
ELIZABETH- 


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“TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH/’ SAID NANCY 


JheAdmirals Granddaughter 

Ax 

€tiza6eth Lincoln Gould 
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2 fbe hnn PubtUh ing Company 
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1907 


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Copyright 1907 by The Penn Publishing Company 


The Admiral’s Granddaughter 


Contents 


CHAPTER PAGE 


I 

Up Beaumont Lane 

7 

II 

The Admiral 

18 

III 

Nancy’s Errand 

, 28 

IV 

Delightful News 

• 4 i 

V 

The Guests Arrive 

• 53 

VI 

Nancy’s Friends 

. 66 

VII 

A Riding Lesson 

76 

VIII 

From Garden to Garret . . . . , 

, 88 

IX 

The Secret Stairway 

. 98 

X 

On the Hill 

. 109 

XI 

A Test for a Beaumont 

. 116 

XII 

An Unwelcome Caller 

. 124 

XIII 

The Barn at Night 

• 13 6 

XIV 

Plans for the Journey 

. 146 

XV 

The Admiral Says u Good-Bye ” . . 

• !53 

XVI 

A Wonderful Freight Car . . . , 

. 160 

XVII 

A Halt on the Way 

. 172 

XVIII 

An Unexpected Meeting . . . . 

. 183 

XIX 

Back to Beaumont Lane . . . . , 

► 193 


3 



Illustrations 

PAGE 

“To Your Good Health/ said Nancy . Frontispiece 

She had been Sitting Very Still 46 

“ I Wish I Could Decide My Favorite Flower/ 92 
“To Victory, Admiral!” cried Nancy . . . .159 
Her Hand Stretched Toward Him 185 


The Admiral’s Granddaughter 


\ 


The Admiral’s Granddaughter 


CHAPTER I 

UP BEAUMONT LANE 

The west wind rustled through the branches of the 
big maple tree that stood guard at the head of Beau- 
mont Lane, and four red leaves floated out into the 
sunshine and down to the ground ; there they lay still 
for a moment and then, urged on by the breeze, they 
scurried briskly along until they reached Aunt Sylvia, 
half-way down the lane. 

Aunt Sylvia put out her foot and set it firmly down 
on three of the red leaves ; the fourth was suddenly 
caught up by the breeze and blown quite out of her 
reach. 

“ Tears like dat old maple is bound and ’termined 
to send out red leaves befo’ dere’s any ’cessity,” 
grumbled Aunt Sylvia, looking after the truant leaf, 
and then down at the three captives peeping out from 
beneath the sole of her broad shoe. “ ’Tisn’t but 
August yet ; no use hurrying up de fall ob de year so 
7 


8 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


fast. But de sun’s getting low, and it’s time my little 
missy was home. I keep ’specting to hear a roar from 
de admiral ’most any time now.” 

Aunt Sylvia put up both hands and pushed back 
the white sunbonnet which had covered her head, till 
it fell to her shoulders and hung there held by the 
tightly knotted string. Her short crisp hair shone al- 
most white above the wrinkled black face. 

“ Aunt Sylvi-a ! Aunt Sylvi-a ! ” came a gay call 
from down the lane. “ Oh, Aunt Sylvi-a ! where are 
you?” 

“Dat’s my lamb,” breathed the watcher, delight 
stealing over her face and smoothing out the troubled 
lines. “ Nobody else in dis land’s got such a voice as 
my honey.” 

In another moment around the turn into sight came 
a chestnut mare, stepping softly and daintily along 
over the green carpet of the lane, and on her back sat 
Nancy Beaumont with cheeks as pink as a wild rose 
and tumbled yellow curls blown backward as she rode. 
On the mare’s head rested Nancy’s best hat, a broad- 
brimmed white straw trimmed with daisies. 

“ There, I knew you’d be waiting for me ! ” cried 
Nancy as she caught sight of the tall, erect figure in 
its stiffly starched blue cotton gown. “You never 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 9 

answer my call, but I always know you’ll be here. 
How do you like Jessie’s hat, Aunt Sylvia ? The 
horses in the city have them, and I’m sure no city 
horse can be as good as Jessie. I only wish I’d had a 
wet sponge to put in it, to keep her head all the cooler. 
It was hot coming up the hill.” 

Aunt Sylvia reached out her long arm and removed 
the broad-brimmed hat from Jessie’s head with small 
ceremony. Far from taking olfense it seemed as if 
the mare’s brown eyes were filled with gratitude, and 
her ears, relieved of a sliding, slipping, scratchy bur- 
den, pricked up at once. 

“ ’Tis a piece o’ luck you didn’t hab a sponge,” said 
Aunt Sylvia calmly. “ I s’pose you’d like to get dis 
hat so ’twouldn’t be fit to wear on Sundays ? ” 

“ Oh, I forgot about church,” said Nancy, hanging 
her head, and then tossing her curls as if she tossed 
regret behind her. “ Anyway, I didn’t have the 
sponge, so I couldn’t do it. And a hat is such a bother, 
except for Sundays.” 

“ You know your grandpa doesn’t like folks in de 
village to see my lamb going bareheaded,” said the old 
woman gently. She laid her hand on Jessie’s bridle 
and they began to move slowly along up the lane, 
Nancy talking to her two companions. 


io The Admiral's Granddaughter 

“Keep step with Aunt Sylvia now, Jessie,” she said 
coaxingly. “ Why, of coarse I kept my hat on till we 
got beyond the last village house, and began to climb 
the hill. I know how grandfather feels. He wants 
me to grow to be just like grandmother.” 

The bright face clouded, and Aunt Sylvia’s brows 
were drawn together, though she kept her eyes 
straight ahead. 

“Little honey can’t be like anybody but just her 
own self,” she muttered, but Nancy caught the 
words, and stooped to lay her hand on Aunt Sylvia’s 
head. 

“You spoil me, I’m afraid,” she said softly, “but 
nobody else does, and oh, how I do love it ! ” 

Aunt Sylvia’s eyes shone, as she walked along with 
her head held stiffly lest the little white hand that 
rested on it should be inconvenienced by her motion. 

“ The big maple’s turning ! ” cried Nancy as the head 
of the lane was reached. “ Now it will be lovely in a 
week. It’s time, too; this is the very last day of 
August ! ” 

“ When you get to be old as Aunt Sylvy, ’twon’t joy 
you to see de trees change,” said the old woman sadly, 
but Nancy did not hear her, for beyond the big maple 
at the place where the lane ended and the orchard be- 


' The Admiral's Granddaughter n 


gan, her quick eyes spied her grandfather, leaning 
on his walking stick and looking up at the red- 
cheeked apples on a curiously gnarled and twisted 
tree. 

“ My hat, Aunt Sylvia, quick, please ! ” she whis- 
pered, and in less time than it takes to tell it, the 
daisy- trimmed hat was in its proper place, the tumbled 
curls were hastily smoothed and Aunt Sylvia, falling 
meekly behind, watched her darling ride forward and 
stop Jessie at the foot of the little bridle-path that 
wound past the orchard, up to the barn. 

“ Grandfather,” she called, and the old man turned 
quickly at the sound, showing a stern, resolute face 
with bushy eyebrows which almost met over a pair of 
fierce eyes. He looked at the little girl in silence and 
then advanced toward her, leaning heavily on his 
stick, while his left hand drew into sight a large, old- 
fashioned watch. 

“ It’s high time you came back,” he said abruptly, 
after a glance at his watch. “ Here it is, after five 
o’clock, and I’ve been waiting for my cup of tea for 
over half an hour. In your grandmother’s life such a 
thing could never have happened.” 

“ I’m so sorry, grandfather,” said Nancy, her little 
hands twisting themselves in and out of Jessie’s 


12 


' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


mane. “ But the mail was late, and while I waited 
I just rode around by the new mills, to see how they 
looked, and I suppose ” 

“ I suppose you forgot all about the time,” said her 
grandfather as she faltered ; “ well, never mind now, 
child. Hurry up to the barn and then have the tea 
ready on the piazza by the time I get there ; ’twill be 
easy enough, for I walk so slowly, and beside I have 
one more tree to look at; ’Yanus hasn’t done any 
proper pruning for two years. That’s always the 
way ; let the master of a place be laid by for awhile 
and every one takes advantage of it. I should have 
thought you would have seen to it that your son did 
not neglect his work, however, knowing how little is 
required of him.” 

The last severe words were addressed to Aunt 
Sylvia, who was courtesy ing over and over again at 
the head of the lane. Nancy was already far up the 
path, almost out of sight. 

“ He’s a trifling, no-’count boy, dat’s what he cer- 
tainly is, sah,” said Aunt Sylvia promptly. “ I’m all 
de time t’inking how if dat boy’s father had only 
lived till now, he’d have had de discipline he needs — 
discipline such as his poor old mudder hasn’t got de 
strength in her arms to ’minister to him. Here, sah, 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 13 

lean on Aunt Sylvy up dis slope ; no ’cessity for a 
slope to be so steep anyway.” 

“ Aunt Sylvia, I’m getting to be an old man ; you 
needn’t find fault with the slope ; it was never too 
steep when I was a boy ; but I’ll get along without an 
extra arm, thank you,” and he smiled grimly at the 
old family servant. 

His mind was taken away from her son’s shortcom- 
ings for the time, and that was all Aunt Sylvia had 
wished or hoped. The two old people, so near each 
other in age and so far apart in almost every other 
way, walked slowly up the winding path, Aunt Sylvia 
a step behind, until the path ended at the driveway ; 
there Admiral Beaumont turned to the left and pain- 
fully mounted the broad steps to the piazza, while 
Aunt Sylvia, on level ground at last, hurried to the 
barn. 

The admiral stood for a moment looking down at 
the orchard from which he had climbed with so much 
trouble. 

“ It will be one while before I try that again,” and 
he sat carefully down in his big armchair, and 
stretched his right leg out before him. “ More years 
ago than I like to think, I got that miserable little 
wound,” he said, looking down at his outstretched 


14 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


leg with much disfavor, “ and year by year it’s stif- 
fened more and more. Bah ! Let’s see what mail the 
child has brought. Where has she put it? Nancy! 
Ah, here it is in my hand ; I remember now she gave 
it to me. Now where are my glasses ? Nancy ! 
Oh, here they are in my pocket.” 

Two newspapers and a single letter made up the 
admiral’s mail. The papers he laid down, but the let- 
ter he tore open, his hands seeming not quite steady. 

At the first words he thrust out his under lip and 
brought his fist down with a bang on the arm of his 
chair. 

“No,” he shouted. “No, I won’t! I said I 
wouldn’t, and I won’t. Where’s your pride ? Where’s 
your sense of honor ? Where’s my reward for all I’ve 
done ? Where’s my ” 

“ Oh, grandfather, here’s your tea ! I was just as 
quick as I could be ! ” came a breathless voice from 
the doorway, and there was Nancy, bearing a tray on 
which were sliding about two cups and saucers, a 
sugar bowl, a cream-pitcher, a saucer of sliced lemon 
and a plate of wafers ; behind her came a maid with 
a steaming teapot. 

“ Hey ? what ? well, it’s high time,” said the old 
man testily, as he thrust the letter and its crumpled 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 15 

envelope into his pocket. “ Set the things down here 
on this table. Lemon ? what’s that for ? This is my 
afternoon for cream, not lemon. What are those pale 
things ? Take them away and bring me some cookies 
that look as if they’d once been in the oven. Not 
you, Nancy, — the girl. You sit here, and begin to 
pour the tea, and let me have a minute’s peace. Sit 
down, child.” 

Nancy hurriedly seated herself and began to pour 
the tea. 

“ Here, you’ve put no hot water into the cups,” 
said the admiral. “ Where’s that girl ? No, don’t go 
for her — wait ” 

“ There she goes, off like a shot,” cried the old man, 
as Nancy vanished in the doorway — “I believe I’ll 
take the lemon after all.” 

He poured himself a liberal cup, filled it with cream, 
dropped in two slices of lemon, and then absently 
added four pieces of sugar, one after another. He 
had taken one sip of it when Nancy appeared once 
more with hot water and a plate of cookies. 

“ Sit down, and taste your tea, and see what you 
make of it,” commanded her grandfather, pushing his 
cup toward the little girl. “ And don’t keep jumping 
up so, it spoils the tea. And now tell me what you 


16 The Admiral's Granddaughter 

saw in Potterville — though of all names for a place, 
that is the most inexcusable I ever knew. And first 
tell me what you’ve brought in that pitcher, and 
when you expect it will be used. All I wish is my 
tea, if I can ever get it.” 

Try as hard as she could, Nancy could not quite 
hide the smile that twitched and tugged at the corners 
of her mouth. 

“The hot water for your tea is in this pitcher, 
grandfather dear,” she quavered ; u you asked for it.” 

The admiral stared blankly at her, and then threw 
back his head. 

“ So I did, child, so I did,” he cried, “ and then for- 
got it ! ” 

He laughed until the tears came into his eyes and 
Nancy laughed with him. While he wiped his eyes 
she quickly poured the contents of the cup into a 
bowl that had received many such mixtures in its 
time. 

“ But I’d had a troublesome letter, that’s what up- 
set me,” said the old man a few minutes later as he 
began to sip his tea; “a letter from your brother 
Jack.” 

“ He isn’t ill ? ” asked Nancy anxiously. “ Oh 
grandfather ! ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 17 

“ No indeed, he’s not ill,” said the admiral shortly. 

“ Then nothing else really matters, does it, grand- 
father ?” asked Nancy, contented to have no answer 
to her question. Jack could always straighten things 
out and please his grandfather in the end. The ad- 
miral muttered something, but Nancy, her hands 
folded in her lap and her eyes wandering off to the 
hills, did not try to hear what he said. 

“Next week he’s coming, and then he’ll be here 
three whole weeks except for two days, before he has 
to go back to college,” she thought happily. “ That’s 
so good of him, when so many people with beautiful 
houses ask him to visit them. Oh, there’s nobody like 
my brother Jack ! ” 

“Your tea will be cold, Nancy,” her grandfather’s 
voice called her back to her neglected cup. 

Then, although she did not care for tea-drinking, 
little Nancy Beaumont raised her cup, and her grand- 
father raised his ; the two rims touched. 

“ To your good health,” said Nancy sedately. 

“ To yours, my dear,” said the admiral, and the 
eldest and youngest Beaumont drank their tea 
together. 


CHAPTER II 


THE ADMIRAL 

Fifty years before the tea-drinking on the broad 
piazza, there had been a little settlement called Beau- 
mont Corners, the centre of which was the old house 
in which Nancy now lived with her grandfather. In 
those days there were gay doings in the Beaumont 
house ; money was plenty and Beaumont land stretched 
far, with meadow and upland, forest and dale. 

Then, gradually, but surely, came changes. The son 
of one of the farmers, after some years of prosperity in 
the city sixty miles away, returned full of new ideas. 
There was water power in that region ; it should be 
used ; a town must grow ; and as old Squire Beaumont, 
called “ Square Beaumont ” by his farming neighbors, 
would sell none of his land, the town must move east- 
ward, where land in plenty could be had, and the river 
ran strong and broad. 

The war came, and with it many changes. When 
Squire Beaumont heard of the death of his three brave 
sons, his heart was broken. He died within a few 
months, and his gentle wife soon followed him. There 
18 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 19 

remained only one son, the admiral, Nancy’s grand- 
father. He with his wife and their boy had come to 
live on the old place, staying there the year round save 
for an occasional visit to Washington which had been 
their home. 

The admiral had all his father’s hatred of changes. 
Country life was hard for him at first, but he took it 
up with fierce interest as time went on, and fought 
what he scornfully called “ the upstart improvements ” 
with all his might. 

He was talking of some of these changes to Nancy a 
few mornings after the day Jack’s letter came. He 
was in his big chair ; Nancy sat on the upper step, her 
face eagerly upturned to his. 

“ Please tell me some more, grandfather,” she 
pleaded ; “ I get so excited watching for Jack, and it 
makes me forget everything else, when you tell me 
about my father and mother, and when Jack was 
a baby — Oh, I wish I could remember my father and 
mother ! But I can’t ! I’ve tried and I can’t — not the 
least little bit ! ” 

“ Your mother died when you were less than a 
month old, you know, Nancy,” said the admiral with 
unwonted tenderness. “ She was a pretty creature — 
a pretty creature! And your father, my dear, you 


20 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

were only two years old when your father died, so you 
could scarcely remember him. But your grandmother 
— surely you remember her well, Nancy.” 

“ Oh, yes indeed, grandfather,” said Nancy quickly. 
It might have seemed to an unprejudiced listener that 
Nancy’s recollections were not wholly untinged with 
an awe that came near being fright. But she had to 
speak rather loud, for the admiral was deaf, though he 
did not admit it, and he found nothing amiss in her 
tone. 

“ I remember about grandmother of course,” said 
Nancy, for she knew what her grandfather longed to 
hear ; he bent forward in his eagerness till his face was 
close to hers. “ She was very tall, quite as tall as 
you, grandfather.” (“An inch taller,” said the ad- 
miral half under his breath. “ A full inch, on the 
door-post.”) “ And she wore caps with ribbon bows 
that trembled when she talked ; and generally a black 
silk dress that rustled, and carried her handkerchief in 
her hand by the centre; and it was always just as 
white ! and she never raised her voice, but you could 
hear it, oh, ever so far ! ” 

Nancy stopped with a little sigh, and her grand- 
father leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. 

“I can see her, just as if she were here,” he said, 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 21 

“ thougli she’s been gone nearly seven years. You 
were a small child when she died, Nancy ; I wish she 
might have lived to train you — and Jack — how she 
loved that boy ! ” 

A wave of soft color swept over Nancy’s face. 

“ Everybody loves Jack,” she said simply; “they 
can’t help it. And he looks just like my father, 
doesn’t he ? You’ve often said it.” 

“ Just like him at his age,” said the grandfather. 

“ As like as What’s the matter, Nancy ? What 

do you hear ? ” 

“ Hoofs,” — said Nancy. “ Horse’s hoofs, grand' 
father. But — but the carriage rattles as if there 
were nobody in it but ’Vanus. Oh, grandfather ! Do 
you suppose Jack hasn’t come ?” 

The old man rose from his chair and stood watching 
the curve in the driveway around which the carriage 
must soon appear. When it came into sight, and he 
saw the single swaying figure in it, and the rueful 
apologetic face of black Sylvanus, his wrath and dis- 
appointment burst forth in words. 

“ What do you mean by this ? ” he demanded of the 
frightened darky. “ Where is your young master ? 
I mean where is Mr. Jack ? Answer me at once.” 

The dusky face disappeared as Sylvanus bent double 


22 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


in his efforts to recover a letter which had slid from 
the seat beside him to the floor. Picking it up with 
shaking fingers he handed it to Nancy who had hur- 
ried down the steps. As he did this he also tried to 
make a respectful salute with the old cap which he 
plucked from his head. The horse, feeling the reins 
drop, started, galloping, for the barn ; Nancy had 
barely time to escape the wheels as with a wild “ Hi 
you ! Stop ! Stop ! ” the carriage and its occupant 
dashed around the corner of the house and up to the 
barn. 

“ What does this mean ? ” again demanded the ad- 
miral as Nancy, all the brightness gone from her face, 
walked slowly up the steps with the letter. “Ad- 
dressed to you, is it ? Well, read it, child ; read it at 
once.” 

“Yes, grandfather,” said Nancy, her fingers tremb- 
ling with excitement as she tore open the envelope. 

“ Dear Nan,” she read from the page covered with 
Jack’s bold scrawl, “ I know you’ll be disappointed at 
my not coming home, but I have a chance to help a 
stupid boy in mathematics — my strong point, you 
know — from now till the twenty-first, and as I’ve 
loafed all summer and really need some extra money, 
I’ve promised to do it. I know grandfather’ll 


! The Admiral' s Granddaughter 23 

approve, judging from his last letter. Give him my 
love and tell him I’m trying to profit by his advice. 
Keep on growing, and see how much nearer my 
shoulder you can get by Christmas. I’ll be home 
then and give my small sister some good times. 

“ Your loving brother, 

“ Jack.” 

“ (Jpon my word he takes things with a high hand, 
that young man!” cried the admiral. “Just like his 
father for all the world ! But he has ability. There’s 
no doubt about that. Why Nancy, child, what’s the 
matter ? ” for the old man had forgotten disappoint- 
ment in pride. 

Nancy’s lips quivered, but she steadied them for her 
answer, and held her little head high. 

“ It seems a long time till Christmas, grandfather,” 
she said, her eyes turned away from the admiral, “ but 
I suppose it will go before we know it.” 

“ Of course it will,” said her grandfather, laying his 
hand for a moment on the little girl’s shoulder. “ It’s 
only a month or two, with days getting shorter all 
the time. And you know the Beaumont’s never 
make a fuss or cry over disappointments, Nancy.” 

“ No, sir,” and the child’s blue eyes looked straight 
up into the stern old face. “ But I — grandfather — 


24 7 he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


you know I’m part Frost, like my mother. I think I’d 
like to get the almanac, grandfather, and see just how 
soon Christmas comes.” 

“ Very well, run along,” said the admiral, “ I’ll wait 
here. You might as well bring out the paper and 
read it to me. And Nancy — you might as well bring 
the almanac too ; I want to see about the next full 
moon — and other things,” he added truthfully. 

“ There’s a soft streak in me,” he muttered as he sat 
tapping the arms of his chair. “ Soft as putty I am, 
where that boy’s concerned. I actually believe I’m in 
danger of relenting about next year. S-sh, here 
comes the child back again.” 

Nancy, in the big, dark hall had waited one moment, 
almanac in hand, to wipe away an uncomfortable 
dampness in her eyes. 

“ When I’m disappointed about important things 
like Jack’s coming home,” said Nancy to a portrait 
that hung over the long sofa, “ I’m not Beaumont at 
all, father ; I’m all Frost I guess, every bit of me.” 

Nancy stole a look out through the doorway ; her 
grandfather was tapping the arms of his chair, and 
smiling ; she could see his face. Softly and quickly 
she stepped over the threshold of the parlor. There, 
not among the Beaumont’s, but on a wall by itself, 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 25 

hung a crayon portrait of her mother. Nancy did not 
like it as well as the photograph she kept up-stairs, first 
among her treasures, but there was not always time to 
go up-stairs when Nancy needed her mother. 

She stood with the almanac clasped over her heart 
and her eyes fixed on the gentle face above her. 

“ You were a Frost, mother, so you know all about 
it,” said Nancy softly. She laid her hand on her lips 
and then stretched her arm until her finger-tips rested 
on the glass just above the smiling lips of the portrait. 

“ Good-bye,” said Nancy, and she tiptoed backward 
out of the room, feeling greatly comforted. She took 
the “ Potterville Clarion” from the long sofa, and 
stepped out over the threshold just as her grandfather 
began to be impatient. The old man seized the paper 
and opened it, but the first words that met his eyes 
brought an indignant look to his face. 

“ Look at that ! ” he cried, pointing to a staring ad- 
vertisement on the first page. “ If your father had 
lived, he’d have had the arm of the law stretched out 
to grasp that man ! Read it, child ! Read it aloud.” 

“ 4 Don’t fail to call at Stone’s in the new Beaumont 
Block,’ ” read Nancy over her grandfather’s shoulder. 
“ ‘ The only place in town where you can get three 
times the worth of your money. The Ten Cent Store — 


26 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


Small Wares, Cutlery, Games, Crockery, Tin, Wood, 
Groceries and Confectionery. Everything you want, 
at Stone’s. Don’t forget, Beaumont’s Block, Sign of 
the Crock.’ ” 

There was the hint of a laugh in Nancy’s eyes, but 
the admiral crumpled the paper into a wad and flung it 
from him with an exclamation of disgust. 

“ An honored name ! ” he growled. “ A cheap 
block, and a miserable creaking, rhyming sign to catch 
the taste of the mill hands of Potterville ! It’s a dis- 
grace ! A disgrace to the country, yes, sir, and to the 
nation ! Nancy, the next time you go to the town I 
shall send a message by you to that man. I’ll not de- 
mean myself by writing to him. Nancy, what carriage 
is that down at the foot of the driveway ? It has 
stopped. Are the people looking this way ? ” 

“ Yes, grandfather,” said Nancy, “ and the driver is 
pointing out the house. I suppose he’s telling 
them ” 

“ Go into the house and shut the door,” commanded 
the admiral. “Time was when respectable families 
were not subjected to the gaze of strangers.” 

He rose and stood haughtily gazing down at the of- 
fending vehicle. To his amazement and wrath, the 
driver took off his hat with a wide sweep as he 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 27 

gathered up the reins, his harangue evidently fin- 
ished. 

When the carriage was well out of sight the admiral 
threw wide the front door, for Nancy to return. The 
little girl looked up from her seat on the sofa, her fin- 
ger carefully held on a page of the almanac. 

“And seven are twenty-six, and seven are thirty - 
three, grandfather,” said Nancy, her eyes pleading 
for a moment’s delay. “ 1 Thirty days hath Novem- 
ber ’ — that makes December third, you see — and seven 
are ten and seven are seventeen and seven are twenty- 
four — that’s five more weeks. Oh, grandfather — just 
sixteen weeks from to-day it will be ! ” 

“ Will it indeed ? ” said the admiral, endeavoring too 
late to bring a puzzled look to his face. “ I suppose 
you think I know of what you’re speaking, Nancy ? ” 
“ Oh, grandfather ! ” cried Nancy. “ Oh, grand- 
father, I’m sure you do ! ” 


CHAPTEK III 

nancy’s errand 

It was three days later that the admiral, after an in- 
spection of the clouds, the weather-vane and the ther- 
mometer, announced to Nancy his desire to have her 
go to the town and do some errands which could not 
be trusted to black Sylvanus. 

“ There’s a storm brewing,” said the admiral, “ and 
by to-morrow we shall be housed. So I wish you to 
go to-day, Nancy. There is Lamson, the newspaper 
man, for you to see; and Stone, and the livery stable 
man — I can’t recall his name — and Bartley Pearson 
in the centre village.” 

“ Yes, grandfather,” said Nancy. “ Do you sup- 
pose — do you think I can talk to them the way you’d 
like to have me ? ” 

“ I should hope you could,” said the admiral sternly, 
“ you’re a Beaumont ! ” He paused and looked at her 
with sudden doubt. “ I wish you were a little older,” 
he said slowly. “ I ought to be able to attend to 
these matters myself, as there is no one else fitted to 
do it, except your brother who stays away.” 

28 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 29 

Nancy got up from her chair and ran around the 
breakfast table to her grandfather’s side. 

“ But we know what Jack is doing, and we wouldn’t 
want him here, now, grandfather, you know we 
wouldn’t,” she said coaxing a smile to the grim face. 
“ And I will be just as dignified and Beaumonty as I 
can be. Look at me, grandfather. This is the way I 
shall speak to Mr. Lamson. I shall say, ‘ Sir, my 
grandfather, Admiral Beaumont, wishes to discontinue 
his subscription to your paper.’ ” 

The old man looked at the small, erect figure and 
the delicate face with its uplifted chin, and chuckled. 

“ I’m afraid you’ll not do it just that way when you 
get there,” he said. “But run along, child, for the 
morning will be gone before you know it. Hours 
aren’t what they were when your grandmother was 
here. Has that lazy Sylvanus saddled Jessie yet?” 

“ He’s doing it now, grandfather,” said the little 
girl. “ I shall be ready by the time he brings her to 
the door.” 

Nancy would have liked to start from the barn, but 
the admiral never allowed it. Fifteen minutes later 
he stood on the piazza watching his little grand- 
daughter mount her mare with some unnecessary 
help from Sylvanus. Nancy had on a close-fitting 


30 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


hat, for the wind was strong, and a pair of heavy 
gloves ; her riding-habit was an old blue serge, and 
over the waist she wore a short scarlet jacket. She 
carried no whip, for pretty Jessie never needed the 
touch of one. 

“ Good-bye, grandfather,” said Nancy gayly, “ I’ll 
be home again before noon and I’ll do everything as 
well as I can.” 

The old man stood looking after her as Jessie can- 
tered down the driveway. A Beaumont might return 
by the bridle-path, but she must depart with proper 
state by the driveway and highroad. 

For quite a distance along the road there were no 
houses, and as soon as Nancy had passed out of her 
grandfather’s sight, she slipped from Jessie’s back to 
the ground. 

“ Here, you dear,” she said, fumbling in a big bag 
Which had long tie-strings and many pockets, “ you 
shall have your sugar in just one minute. I know 
grandfather would think it was silly to give it to you 
when we start — but I think it encourages you ; you 
don’t like the noisy mills and those puffing, whizzing 
sounds, do you ? ” 

Jessie’s head was turned to watch her little mistress 
and when she saw the lump of sugar, found at last in the 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 31 

very bottom of the bag, she made a soft champing sound 
and her ears moved back and forth two or three times. 

“ Now, gently, dear,” said Nancy, extending a rosy 
palm in the very middle of which lay the lump of 
sugar. 

The mare’s long tongue came out, and with it she 
rolled the tempting lump into her mouth. It lasted 
only a moment, but Jessie’s liquid eyes showed her en- 
joyment. She rubbed her nose in Nancy’s little hand, 
and Nancy smoothed her “ on the forehead and under 
the chin.” 

“ Though I’m never quite sure, Jessie, exactly where 
your forehead stops and your nose begins,” said Nancy 
with a final loving pat. 

One spring, and she was in the saddle, much more 
comfortably settled than when Sylvanus had helped 
her up. 

“We don’t need anybody to help us, do we, 
Jessie?” said the little girl as they once more started 
on their journey. “We are just the very best friends 
that ever could be. And you don’t care so very much 
for any one else, and I like that. Because you see, 
grandfather loves me of course, but he has Jack to 
love best, because he’s all Beaumont. And Jack — 
why Jack loves me a great, great deal, but you know 


32 “The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

a young gentleman has to do a great many things, 
Jessie, away from home. He has to go to college, 
and to make visits, and so he doesn’t have much time 
to be with anybody that’s only just twelve. And my 
grandfather has to write a good many letters and 
sleep a good deal and then he’s very grown up, you 
know, Jessie. Oh, see that golden-rod ! When we 
come back, I must pick that biggest stalk for grand- 
father. He likes to put a plume of it over the gen- 
eral’s picture.” 

The road down the hill, past the scattered farms, 
was never half long enough for Nancy. She talked 
to Jessie all the way, and the pretty mare seemed to 
listen; but at the foot of the hill, before the curve 
that led around to the “ centre village ” where the 
houses were clustered and there was a store and a 
post-office, Nancy straightened herself, and stopped 
her conversation. 

“This is the place where we begin to be stiff, 
Jessie,” said the little girl demurely, “so you must 
behave your very best; we’ve been trusted with 
serious errands to-day, Jessie — and I wish we hadn’t.” 

Past the village houses stepped pretty Jessie, her 
little mistress as much at her ease as she would have 
been on her own slender feet. The villagers were for 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 33 

the most part out of sight at that hour in the morn- 
ing, the men off in the fields or elsewhere, the women 
hard at work in their kitchens; there was a most 
delicious odor of cooking fruit. 

“They’re making grape jelly,” thought Nancy. 
“Oh, doesn’t it smell good! I wonder if I could 
learn how to make it. At any rate I’ll ask Aunt 
Sylvia to do some, when I go home.” 

As Nancy was riding past one of the houses, just 
before she reached the post-office, she heard a tapping 
on a window. 

“ Oh, dear,” said the little girl, “ there’s Mrs. Potter. 
I suppose I must be polite, and stop.” 

The door of the house opened and a brisk elderly 
woman hurried down the gravel walk and came out 
through the little clicking gate. 

“ Good-morning, Nancy,” said Mrs. Potter. “ I feel 
as if I must speak to you again about your riding that 
skittish horse. Now don’t tell me she isn’t skittish, 
my dear. Haven’t I seen her prance and prick up her 
ears ? I wonder your grandfather allows it, but of 
course he’s getting into his dotage, now.” 

“ Oh, no, Mrs. Potter,” said Nancy ; she had not the 
slightest idea what a dotage was, but she was of the 
opinion that it must be some sort of vehicle. “ Grand- 


34 T^he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


father trusts me; he knows Jessie is safe and he’d 
never think of driving after me even if he were able ; 
but poor dear grandfather’s leg is so stiff he doesn’t 
get into anything but a chair now.” 

“Well, if ever ” began Mrs. Potter, and then 

she decided that an explanation was really unneces- 
sary. “ When is your brother coming home ? ” she 
asked abruptly. “Bartley Pearson tells me there 
have been a good many letters passing back and 
forth, and that from the postmark of the last one, 
he judged he was still down on the Cape. Seems 
strange to me any one should care to sit right out 
on the salt-water, particularly in the fall o’ the year. 
But I suppose he thinks ’most anything’s gayer 
than home. I understand he’s a very lively young 
man.” 

“ I think I must be going, Mrs. Potter,” said Nancy 
on whose face a deep flush had risen ; “ I see Mr. 
Pearson on the post-office steps, and he may be going 
home.” 

“ When did you say your brother was coming ? ’ ’ 
persisted Mrs. Potter, her hand clutching Nancy’s 
skirt. “Not till Christmas? Oh, well, I suppose 
you’ve got used to having him away, by this time. 
There’s a place on your skirt, Nancy, where the bind- 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 35 

ing’s loose. You’d better have that colored servant 
of yours see to it.” 

“Yes, Mrs. Potter,” said Nancy, with dignity. 
“Thank you for telling me, but Aunt Sylvia isn’t 
really a servant.” 

“Well, what on earth is she?” demanded Mrs. 
Potter, releasing Nancy’s skirt in her surprise. 

“ Oh, she’s — she’s just Aunt Sylvia,” said Nancy, the 
very thought of her dear old “ mammy ” bringing a 
smile to her face. “ Good-bye, Mrs. Potter.” 

“ She talks up pretty pert, considering this town is 
named for my husband’s folks, and my husband is 
selectman,” said Mrs. Potter severely as she returned 
to her tightly closed domain, “ but I don’t know what 
you could expect different, considering her circum- 
stances. Only goes to school during the spring- 
term ! ” 

Nancy was not a moment too soon, for as she 
reached the post-office steps, Mr. Pearson was fitting 
a large key into the lock of the door. 

“ A minute more and you’d have lost me till after- 
noon,” he announced, turning a placid, moon-shaped 
face over his shoulder as he heard Nancy’s “good- 
morning.” “I’m due for a game of chess over at old 
Mis’ Martin’s in half an hour, and I thought I’d start a 


36 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


little early and step around by the new library build- 
ing; they don’t get on with it as they ought to; 
they’ll waste an hour here and there and there’s no 
bringing back time when once it’s fled. That’s some- 
thing for young folks to remember,” and Mr. Pearson 
looked benignly over his spectacles at the little girl. 
“ Well I suppose I’ve got to unlock this door again. 
You ought to live nearer the town, Nancy. I gave 
out to everybody last night that I shouldn’t be here 
after nine-thirty this morning.” 

“Now, I wonder how grandfather would expect a 
Beaumont to answer that,” thought Nancy. Not 
being at all sure, she contented herself with a smile, 
and “I’m sorry to trouble you, Mr. Pearson.” 

“ ’Tisn’t any real trouble,” said the postmaster as he 
unlocked the door ; “ you keep your sitting on that 
horse and I’ll bring out what mail’s come since ’Vanus 
was here yesterday morning. There’s a letter from 
General Compton to the admiral, and one for you from 
his daughter, and some samples from that Boston store 
where your grandfather gets his stationery — and a 
paper or two, and a bulb catalogue. I was real inter- 
ested in that ; the pictures are surprising, I must say.” 

Mr. Pearson entered the post-office, and in a mo- 
ment came out bearing the Beaumont mail. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 37 

“ Now let’s see you put it all away safe in your bag,” 
he said, handing it piece by piece to Nancy. “ Little 
folks are apt to lose letters now and then.” 

His way of speaking made Nancy’s task even harder 
than she had expected, but she could delay it no longer 
for the postmaster had locked the door and was now 
ready to leave her. 

“Mr. Pearson,” she said, speaking fast though she 
had planned to be slow and calm, “ grandfather asked 
me to say to you that he would rather you didn’t tell 
people about our mail, just what letters we get 

and ” Nancy stopped, for the postmaster’s hand 

was uplifted to silence her. 

“You tell your grandfather to rest easy,” he said 
reassuringly ; “ tell him I never hold the letters up to 
the light to read ’em, and never should. I only tell 
what I learn from the outsides, postmarks and so on ; 
of course things that come unsealed are different. 
Your grandfather’s known me from a boy, and I’m 
kind of taken aback that he should suspect other- 
wise.” 

There was considerable dignity in Mr. Pearson’s 
tone at the last, and he left Nancy with a nod which 
made her feel very young and unimportant. She sat 
perfectly still for a moment after he had gone. 


38 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ I’m quite sure I didn’t do that right,” said Nancy 
dolefully ; then she began to laugh softly to herself. 
“ It was funny, but Mr. Pearson didn’t know it,” she 
said, putting her head down close to Jessie’s ears. 
Then she and the pretty mare turned the corner and 
went along the road that led past the livery stable. 
She rode down to the stable. Mr. Hobbs, the stable- 
keeper, was outside, talking with a man in a high-top 
buggy. Mr. Hobbs touched his hat to Nancy, and 
after a moment the man in the buggy drove off, and 
he walked over to the place where Jessie stood, look- 
ing in at a line of carriages with what Mrs. Potter 
would have called a skittish air. 

“ That’s a mighty pretty mare o’ yours, Miss Nancy,” 
said Mr. Hobbs, gently stroking Jessie’s head ; “ I like 
to see a young lady riding ; it’s such good exercise.” 

“Why, he thinks I’m almost grown-up,” thought 
Nancy ; “it will be easy to talk to him.” She smiled 
at the stable-keeper who was evidently waiting for her 
to tell her errand. 

“ Mr. Hobbs,” said Nancy eagerly, “ my grandfather 
doesn’t like to have people stop at the foot of the 
driveway and stare up at the house, and have the man 
tell them about the Beaumont family. It makes him 
really angry.” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 39 

Mr. Hobbs looked at her silently for a moment. 
When he spoke he was still respectful, but Nancy 
could see that he was displeased. 

“Your grandfather is a fine man, but he’s reached 
the time o’ life when he likes to have considerable at- 
tention paid to him,” he said gravely, “ and we that 
are getting on to middle age understand it. I noticed 
you running into the house that day when I was 
driving those folks myself. I was sorry to see you 
felt so proud; they were nice folks from Boston. 
Your grandfather came and stood right out where 
they could all get a good look at him, and I waved 
him a bow. ’T would have been nice if you’d stood 
out there with him. Pride often has a fall, you know,” 
said Mr. Hobbs in a tone of warning. 

At first poor little Nancy had been too surprised to 
speak, and as Mr. Hobbs went on, the hot tears sprang 
to her eyes. She could hardly wait for the stable- 
keeper to finish his speech. 

“ Why, Mr. Hobbs,” she cried when he stopped, “ I 
didn’t care about those people. But grandfather ” 

“Well, well, never mind, Miss Nancy,” said the sta- 
ble-keeper less severely, “ you will have better judg- 
ment when you’re older. Now if you’ll excuse me, I 
must see if the mountain wagons are all right, for the 


40 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

party from the boarding house. Good-morning, Miss 
Nancy, and pay my respects to the admiral.” 

He touched his hat again and turned away, leaving 
Nancy with cheeks that felt like fire. She wheeled 
Jessie sharply around, and the mare with her little 
rider, were quickly out of sight down the road to the 
mill- village, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Just 
before they reached the mills, in the shade of some 
trees, Nancy put her hot face down once more on Jes- 
sie’s head. 

“ Now we must both be brave and all Beaumont,” 
she whispered, “ for first I have to see Mr. Lamson, 
and then Mr. Stone, and I shall have to leave you, tied 
to that post by the newspaper place. I’ll be just as 
quick as I can, dear, and you can’t be any more fright- 
ened than I am.” 


CHAPTER- IV 


DELIGHTFUL NEWS 

Jessie, tied to the stone post in front of the build- 
ing where The Potterville Clarion was printed, turned 
her head with an anxious expression in the eyes that 
followed her little mistress. There was a great rush- 
ing sound from the dam, and the whirring of the 
machinery was hard to bear ; the mill was just op- 
posite ; who knew but what some of those dreadful 
noises might burst out of those brick walls and come 
even closer to a poor frightened animal tied to a post. 
Jessie tried to be brave, but it was hard work. She 
was glad enough when a small boy stopped to talk to 
her in a friendly way, though she had never seen him 
before. 

Haney went up the steep wooden stairs that led to 
the newspaper office ; there was a big door behind 
which was a sound of clanking and clicking, and a 
smaller door marked “ Private.” 

“ I think that must be the right door,” said Haney, 
and she knocked timidly, just under the black letters. 
There was no answer, so she knocked again. That 
41 


42 T'he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


time some one shouted “ Come in,” and she opened 
the door. 

The room was small and it seemed to Nancy the 
most untidy place she had ever seen. There were 
newspapers and papers of every sort on the floor, all 
over a big table, on a desk where a man sat writing, 
and on the only spare chair, which was not really a 
chair, but a stool. 

The man did not look up from his writing, but he 
said, “ What is it ? ” impatiently, so Nancy began her 
little speech. 

“ Sir,” she said and her throat was dryer than she 
had hoped it would be, “ Mr. Lamson, sir, my grand- 
father, Admiral Beaumont, wishes to discontinue his 
subscription to your paper.” 

The man gave one keen glance at her, and then 
went on writing, as he talked. He had a quick, de- 
cided way of speaking. 

“ That’s all right,” he said. “ You tell the admiral 
I know he’s a bit hard pushed now. But you tell him 
the paper will be sent just the same ; I consider it an 
honor to have him on the complimentary list. Never 
mind, never mind,” he said sharply as Nancy tried to 
speak. “ I tell you it’s all right ; I’ve been in corners 
myself before now. Just try the knob and make sure 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 43 

it’s caught, as you go out ; sometimes if it isn’t tight 
shut, the door opens and I have to get up and shut it. 
Good-morning.” 

Nancy Went out, shutting the door tight and trying 
the knob to see if it were fast. Then she stood per- 
fectly still for a moment in the dark hall. 

“ It wouldn’t be any use to try to talk to him, any 
more,” and Nancy started slowly down the stairs, 
“ for he wouldn’t hear me, and I don’t believe he 
would have understood, anyway. But what will 
grandfather say ? ” 

As she came out of the door the boy who had been 
talking to Jessie and patting her head, started away, 
but Nancy called him back. 

“ It’s very kind of you to talk to her,” said Nancy 
smiling at the boy who had a round, freckled face 
with honest eyes. “ I’d be ever so much obliged if 
you’d do it a minute or two longer. She isn’t so afraid 
when somebody talks to her.” 

“ All right,” said the boy good-naturedly. “ I’d 
just as soon’s not. You wait a minute till I get 
through looking after the Beaumont horse, and I’ll go 
with you,” he called across the road to a boy with a 
fishing-rod who had been beckoning to him. 

Nancy could not help being glad when she was told 


44 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


that Mr. Stone, the manager of the mills, had gone 
away for a few days. 

“ No, I thank you, I can’t do the errand as he is 
not here,” she told the foreman who politely asked if 
he could help her in any way, and she hurried across 
the street to Jessie, and released the freckled boy 
who took off his cap and said “ ’twasn’t anything ” 
when she thanked him. 

“ He wasn’t there, Mr. Stone wasn’t there,” whis- 
pered Nancy as she untied the mare and rubbed her 
nose before mounting, “ so I couldn’t say that grand- 
father thinks they are using too muck water and spoil- 
ing our brook. And really, it isn’t the least speck 
dryer than it was last year, and I’m afraid Mr. Stone 
would have laughed. So now we can go home.” 

The sun had disappeared in a steadily spreading 
bank of cold gray clouds, and as they went along the 
winding river road the wind came in gusts, and little 
showers of leaves came fluttering down from the trees. 

“ Grandfather’s storm won’t stay away much 
longer,” thought Nancy ; “ how fast the clouds are 
spreading now. And it’s growing colder ; but Oh, Jes- 
sie, I do want to read my letter from Marguerite. 
Will you go slowly, just for about two minutes, 
dear ? ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 45 

Slowly and carefully Jessie stepped along, while 
Nancy drew her letter from the bag and read it. 

At the first words a smile came over her face, and 
before she had read to the end of the first page she 
clapped her hands with the letter between them. 

“ Oh, how splendid ! how perfectly splendid ! ” she 
cried while Jessie pricked up her ears and took a 
brisker pace. Nancy hurried through the letter and 
then folded it and put it in its envelope, but not in the 
bag again — instead of that she buttoned it inside her 
little red jacket, right over her heart. 

“ Marguerite is coming to make a visit to me, while 
her father visits with grandfather,” said Nancy, feel- 
ing that Jessie must wish an explanation of her joy. 
“ You know Marguerite’s mother is a great, great deal 
younger than the general, and so Marguerite is only a 
year older than I. And though we’ve corresponded 
for more than a year, we’ve never seen each other. 
Oh, Jessie, what fun it will be ! Suppose we go a little 
bit faster, Jessie, so grandfather will have his mail 
all the sooner.” 

Jessie was willing to hurry, for the air was growing 
colder. They flew along the road, the mare happy in 
the quick motion and because the voice of her little 
mistress sounded so gay and sweet. They were both 


46 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


in a glow when they reached the Beaumont barn, and 
there was still a deep pink color on Nancy’s cheeks 
when she handed the admiral his mail with the letter 
on top. He had just waked from a refreshing nap, 
and Nancy had been sitting very still on a chair near 
him in the library for about ten minutes. 

“ What’s this ? ” said the admiral, as he rubbed his 
eyes and looked at the letter. Fortunately his spec- 
tacles were close at hand, so that no time was wasted 
in hunting for them. 

“ You did your errands, child ? ” asked the admiral 
as he carefully opened the letter with his pen-knife. 

“ Yes, grandfather, as well as I could, but Mr. Stone 
was away, so ” 

“ Another time will do,” said the admiral. He had 
begun to read his letter, and Nancy saw that, as had 
sometimes happened lately, her grandfather did not 
quite remember what all her errands had been ; by and 
by he might think of them again, but perhaps he 
would not. 

“A letter from General Compton is always a pleas- 
ure,” said the admiral when he had read the two 
closely written pages a second time while Nancy sat 
waiting ; “ and this one brings the best of news ; but I 
suppose you know that without my telling you,” as he 



SHE HAD BEEN SITTING VERY STILL 


' 

























































* 










. 













The Admiral' s Granddaughter 47 

looked at Nancy’s smiling face and the letter on her 
lap. 

“Yes I do, and isn’t it lovely, grandfather! ” cried 
Nancy. “ Think of their saying, ‘ if it is convenient,’ 
when they know it is always the very most convenient 
thing that ever was, to have visitors, when you live in 
a big house in the country.” 

“ That’s the right way to feel, my dear,” said the 
admiral, and Nancy could tell from his tone that she 
had pleased him. “ Your grandmother had the true 
hospitality, and I am glad to see that you have in* 
herited it.” 

“Now, grandfather, what shall we do for them ? ” 
asked Nancy eagerly. “ You know I’ve never had a 
little girl to visit me before, and Marguerite says she 
is in such a hurry to see the country, the real country ; 
she only knows the city and the seashore. Should you 
think she would probably like horses and cows and 
hens — and the brook and the pine grove and the cran- 
berry bog and all the other lovely places ? ” 

“ Dear, dear, I’m sure I can’t tell,” said the old 
man ; he had taken off his spectacles and was tapping 
his letter with them. “ But you must make her wel- 
come and happy, however you do it. And Nancy, do 
you think you could lay your hand on that file of war 


48 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


papers that belonged to your father ? The last time I 
had them — I can’t quite recall where I put them,” and 
the admiral looked with wistful hope at his little 
companion. 

“ You put them behind the encyclopedias in the old 
oil-paper covering, grandfather,” said Nancy. “You 
know you said in case of a fire, we should remember 
just where they were, and in the desk they might get 
mixed with less valuable papers.” 

“ That’s it,” said the admiral, “ I knew I put them 
away in a safe place for excellent reasons. I shall 
wish to look them over during the general’s visit.” 

He rose stiffly from his chair and began to pace 
slowly up and down the room, stopping now and then 
to pound with his stick on the floor and say, “ There, 
he’ll like to hear that ! I mustn’t forget to tell him 
that story, this time.” 

Nancy saw that she was not needed, and she longed 
to slip away to tell Aunt Sylvia her good news. 

“ Grandfather,” she said quickly as he passed by her 
for the second time, “ if you don’t care to hear the paper 
just yet I should like to tell Aunt Sylvia and ask her 
about the rooms we’d better have for the company.” 

The admiral stopped short, interrupted in his 
thoughts, but looking undisturbed in spite of it. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 49 

“ The paper can wait awhile,” he said ; “ it isn’t 
often we have the pleasure of planning for visitors 
nowadays, and you and Aunt Sylvia will have many 
things to do, no doubt. I wish the general to have 
the room across the hall from mine. But as for the 
little girl, give her what you choose. I presume you’d 
like to have her near you.” 

Aunt Sylvia was sewing in the room that opened 
from the wide hall up-stairs, at the back of the house. 
It had two west windows and one on the south, but 
evidently Aunt Sylvia found no comfort in the view 
that morning. Her face wore its most solemn look, 
and from her lips came the words of a mournful 
hymn. But nothing troubled Haney that day. Bun- 
ning up the stairs and into the sewing-room, she 
threw her arms around Aunt Sylvia’s neck and settled 
into her lap, regardless of the sheet her old mammy 
was hemming. 

“Oh, Aunt Sylvia, I’m to have a visitor, all my 
own!” she said breathlessly. “Just think of that, 
Aunt Sylvia! And she’s a little girl, only a year 
older than I am ; could you guess who it is ? ” 

Aunt Sylvia generally wore on the top of her head 
when indoors, a pair of iron-bowed spectacles ; she had 
bought them of a mild young man who stopped at the 


50 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


back door one day, and the admiral insisted that they 
were nothing more nor less than window glass. How- 
ever that might be, when she wished to make an im- 
pression, Aunt Sylvia drew the spectacles down to her 
nose and looked through them. She did this now, 
and drew her eyebrows together as if she were think- 
ing hard. 

“ Cur’ous t’ing dat I can’t tell who’d be coming to 
visit my lamb,” she said. “ Now, ’tisn’t any ob dose 
children down in de village ? nor — well, Aunt Sylvy’ll 
jes’ hab to gib it up, I reckon.” 

“ Oh, you know who it is ! ” cried Nancy. “ You 
know there’s only just one person it could be, and 
that’s Marguerite, my friend. She’s coming with the 
general next Monday and they will stay a whole week, 
at least. Isn’t that lovely ? ” 

“ It’s good news, dat it is,” said Aunt Sylvia 
heartily. “ It’s high time my little missy learned how 
to entertain young lady company. Now, I s’pose 
you’d like Aunt Sylvy to go and help you ’cide what 
room Miss Marguerite better hab.” 

“That’s just what I’d like,” said Nancy; “there 
aren’t so very many days before Monday, and when 
we’ve decided on the room there are things I can do 
to make her feel at home while she’s here.” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 51 

Aunt Sylvia folded the sheet and laid it in her 
work-basket, pushed her spectacles up on top of her 
head and was ready. 

The old house had many rambling passages, and 
rooms which were reached by two or three steps up or 
down. Nancy’s room was the first which opened from 
a narrow hall running across the width of the main 
house to the right and left of the sewing-room and just 
back of the two great square front rooms, the admiral’s 
and the one he designed for his guest. Nancy’s room 
had two large windows and a glass door which led to 
a little balcony. This balcony came just at the cor- 
ner of the L, and it could also be reached from the 
room next Nancy’s, which was of irregular shape, 
and had a charming outlook. It was furnished in a 
striped blue and white chintz, with tiny roses wander- 
ing over it. 

Before the door of this room Nancy halted. 

“ It’s not so fine as the yellow room across the hall,” 
said Nancy, “ but 1 think it’s prettier ; and — don’t you 
believe Mrs. Compton would like to have Marguerite 
close to me, so she wouldn’t be lonesome ? You know 
at home she has her mother, and three brothers and 
the baby.” 

Aunt Sylvia had heard all Marguerite’s letters, so 


52 "The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


she was well aware of everything that Nancy knew. 
It did not take her a minute to decide. 

“ ’Course she would, honey bunch,” she said, cross- 
ing the room and pulling up a curtain. “Now de first 
t’ing is to let de light into dis room. And de next 

t’ing ” she paused and looked around her, then 

crossed the room again and closed the door. 

“ Aunt Sylvy’s got a plan for de young lady com- 
pany’s room,” she said softly, though there was no one 
near to overhear her. “ See where dat old bureau 
stands? You go lift de piece o’ tapis’ry in your room 
an’ knock on de wall — and see what happens.” 

As noiselessly as if she had been one of the chief 
conspirators in a plot, Nancy opened the door, stole 
out of the room, up two shallow steps and into her 
own room, closing the door behind her. 


CHAPTEK V 


THE GUESTS ARRIVE 

The storm predicted by the admiral had come and 
gone before Sunday. Saturday there was an uncer- 
tain, whiffling wind, but the next morning, soon after 
eleven o’clock, the breeze came out strong west and the 
clouds fled in haste before it. 

The admiral surveyed the changing sky with much 
satisfaction. 

“ For once the wind has hauled through the south, 
and there’s a good prospect for the next few days,” 
he said to Nancy. “ When it backs around through 
the north I never trust the weather, no matter how 
fair it may seem ; it has never cleared to last.” 

Nancy nodded and smiled ; she had heard this truth 
so many times that she could scarcely be expected to 
feel any surprise. Sunday night was beautiful, and 
after she had gone to her room, she opened the glass 
door and stepped out on the balcony to look at the 
stars. She had the photograph of her mother in her 
hands. 

“ I love to say good-night to you, out here under 
53 


54 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


the stars,” said Nancy softly. Then she kissed the 
photograph, and smoothed the pictured hair with her 
little fingers. “ To-morrow my friend is coming,” 
whispered Nancy to the gentle face, “ and Pm so 
happy I don’t know what to do ! ” 

Monday was beautiful ; the trees were gay in gold 
and scarlet, oaks and maples in brave array, with the 
tall old pines for a background of green. Sylvanus in 
his Sunday suit drove slowly up and down before the 
Potter ville station, his little mistress on the back seat 
of the old carriage. Sylvanus took great pride in his 
speech which was quite correct in many ways, but his 
vanity had prevented his ever learning certain things. 

“ He has no idea of the proper way to speak to his 
superiors,” the admiral would storm ; but Nancy, 
though she had plenty of childish dignity at times, 
found Sylvanus’ conversation so amusing that she sel- 
dom remembered to check the flow of it. 

“ The train is ten minutes late, Miss Nancy,” he an- 
nounced, drawing out a silver watch to which was at- 
tached a brass chain of great length. “ Do you sup- 
pose it is a possibility that the general and Miss Mar- 
guerite have been detained b}^ some accident ? ” 

“ Oh, Sylvanus, you know your watch is never 
right,” laughed Nancy ; “ when did you wind it ? ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 55 

“I’ve wound it twice already this morning, Miss 
Nancy,” said Sylvanus with a crestfallen air, “ and I 
always wind it at night. That’s enough for any 
watch, warranted, like mine.” 

“ More than enough, I should think,” said Nancy. 
“ Oh, Sylvanus, there comes the train and here we 
are way up the road ! ” 

“ There’s plenty of time, Miss Nancy, just you put 
faith in me,” said Sylvanus, flourishing his whip in 
the air, and sure enough he managed to draw up at 
the platform, just as the engine stopped and the con- 
ductor stepped off. 

“ Shall I assist you, Miss Nancy ? ” inquired Syl- 
vanus, but his words fell on empty air, for the 
little girl had already sprung from the carriage 
and run toward the train. She looked anxiously 
past the conductor at the people who were getting 
off the cars. First came an old lady with a little 
boy, then a tall young woman, then three young men, 
then — 

“ How do you do, Nancy ? ” called a voice the little 
girl knew and there was the general, his hat in one 
hand and a bag in the other, his handsome gray head 
bared to bow to her ; behind him came a merry -faced 
girl with a small box and an umbrella. 


56 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ Oh, I’m so glad to see you,” said Nancy, as she 
shook hands with the travelers. 

“ Aren’t you going to kiss me ? ” demanded Mar- 
guerite. “ At any rate I shall kiss you ! ” and the 
umbrella and the small box met behind Nancy’s back 
while she received a loving greeting. 

“ I wanted to, but I didn’t know whether you’d 
want to,” said Nancy shyly, as the two little girls 
separated ; then they both laughed and at once felt very 
well acquainted. 

“Ah, Sylvanus, I see you are still the admiral’s 
right hand man,” said the general as they went to the 
carriage after giving the baggage man the checks for 
two trunks to be sent to the house by the coach. “ I 
shall insist on sitting in front with Sylvanus and hear- 
ing the news, while you children share the back seat,” 
he said, and Nancy was of course delighted, while the 
darky’s mouth opened in a wide grin to show two 
rows of gleaming ivory. 

“ I was so afraid something would happen, and you 
wouldn’t come,” said Nancy, looking with admiration 
at the bright brown eyes and shining black braids of 
her guest. 

“ So was I,” said Marguerite. “ Friday mother 
thought Ted had the measles, and if he had, of course 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 57 

I couldn’t have come ; but ’twas only a rash ; he’d been 
eating too many apples. I was so thankful ! boys are 
the most careless things ! ” 

“ I suppose they are,” said Nancy ; “ but you see I 
don’t know much about them because my brother is 
ten years older than I am.” 

“ And he’s your only brother,” said Marguerite, 
pityingly ; “ well, there are times when I’d just as 
soon have one less in our family, on a rainy day for 
instance ; but then, when I think which one would I 
be willing to lose, and I can’t decide on a single one. 
They all have so many good points.” 

She spoke so decidedly and so fast that Nancy 
could only look at her and laugh. 

“ I’m sure you must know a great deal more than I 
do,” she said at last. 

“Perhaps I do about families,” said Marguerite, 
“ but about books you are way ahead of me, Nancy. 
Father has told me some of the things you’ve studied 
with your grandfather, and just the names frighten 
me. Astronomy, for instance. I don’t know one 
single little thing about astronomy except that the 
sun keeps still and the earth goes whirling around it.” 

“ Oh, but astronomy is an outdoor study,” said 
Nancy quickly ; “ of course people that live in the city 


58 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


with brick walls, can’t study outdoors much, can they ? 
Oh, Marguerite, look ! there’s just the beginning of the 
willow road ; some day we’ll ride down there. Can 
you ride ? ” 

“ In a trolley car, or a carriage,” said Marguerite, 
“ but I’d have to be tied on a horse, I believe. I’d 
just as soon try, though, any day you like ; I’m not a 
bit afraid, except of rats.” 

“ Oh,” said Nancy, “ we haven’t any rats except 
sometimes in the barn and then Julia — that’s our 
Maltese cat — catches them.” 

“ I have a cat at home, and his name is Sir Isaac,” 
said Marguerite, “because father thinks he has such 
an inquiring mind, like Sir Isaac Newton’s.” 

The drive to the house had never seemed so short 
before, in all the times Nancy had taken it ; she and 
Marguerite had so many things to say. The admiral 
stood on the threshold to welcome his friend, and he 
also shook Marguerite’s hand with much warmth. 

“ I hope Nancy will be able to make you enjoy your 
visit, my dear,” he said cordially ; “ it is many years 
since we have had the pleasure of a young guest.” 

“ I know I shall have a splendid time,” said Mar- 
guerite, “ and I am so delighted to be here.” 

“Now come right up-stairs and let me show you 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 59 

your room,” said Nancy, and she led the way through 
the hall and up the broad staircase, with its white rail 
and shining brass stair-rods. At the head of the stairs 
stood Aunt Sylvia in a clean white apron of unusual 
size, bowing and courtesying. 

“ This is my dear Aunt Sylvia,” said Nancy, and to 
her delight Marguerite held out her hand to the old 
woman. 

“ I shall love you, because Nancy does,” she said, 
and Aunt Sylvia beamed with pride. 

“ She’s quality, dat’s what she is,” said Aunt Sylvia 
to herself as the two little girls turned away. “ I 
reckon I know it when I see it, for I was raised down 
Souf’ ; she’s a young lady, fit to be wid my lamb, so 
she is.” 

“ Oh, what a darling room ! ” cried Marguerite 
when Nancy stopped at an open door and stepped 
back that her guest might enter first. “ Is this to be 
my room while I am here ? ” 

“ All that you see is yours, and I am your will 
ing servant,” said Nancy with a low bow. Those 
were the words her grandfather had often told 
her were used by her Grandmother Beaumont on 
many occasions, so they could not fail to be proper 


now. 


60 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ You dear little quaint thing,” said Marguerite 
giving her arm a squeeze, “ I do think we shall have 
the loveliest time together ! Oh, what a tall bureau, 
Nancy ! I shall almost have to stand on a chair to 
reach the top drawers.” 

“ Do you see that small drawer, next to the top on 
the left? ” asked Nancy. “ I mean, of course you see 
it, but see if you can open it.” 

Marguerite took the brass handle of the drawer and 
pulled, first gently, then quite hard. There was no 
key-hole, so it was not locked, but try as she would, 
she could not pull it out. 

“ Why, how mysterious ! ” she cried, turning to 
Nancy. “ Oh, Nancy, is it a secret drawer ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Nancy, “it is. Will you stand here a 
minute, and I’ll show you something.” 

Marguerite stood still, her eyes fastened on the 
drawer, while Nancy ran out of the room. After a 
minute she heard a little click, and the drawer shot 
out half its length. In it lay a bunch of tiny asters 
tied with a pink ribbon. 

“ Oh, may I come and see how you do it ? ” she 
cried delightedly. 

“ Yes, indeed,” called Nancy’s voice from the next 
room, but when Marguerite reached the door, there 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 61 

stood Nancy, straightening out the raffle on her dress- 
ing-table. 

“Marguerite,” said Nancy shyly, “would you — 
would you just as soon let me keep the secret while 
you’re here, just for fun ? I’ll tell you before you go 
home, and — I’ve never had a mystery before.” 

“Of course I would,” said Marguerite warmly, 
“ but Nancy, if I put something in the drawer, could 
you get it out, here ? ” 

“Yes,” said Nancy laughing, “just as easily. 
Can’t you guess how ? You may look anywhere.” 

Marguerite ran back and forth, tapping the walls, 
but she could see no place for the secret drawer to 
hide in Nancy’s room; so at last she gave up the 
search. 

“I’ll put something in for you,” she said, “and 
then do I shut the drawer?” 

“ You may shut it whenever you like,” said Nancy. 

Marguerite ran back to her room; she put the 
square box which had been in her left hand all the 
time, in the drawer ; then she pushed it gently back ; 
there was a little click just like the one she had heard 
at first, and the drawer was fast in place. She 
hurried in to Nancy’s room, and there stood her 
friend with the box in her hand. The tapestry on 


62 7 he Admiral' s Granddaughter 

Nancy’s wall was swaying a little, and Marguerite 
looked at it suspiciously. 

“Go behind it,” said Nancy gayly, but when 
Marguerite lifted it there was nothing to be seen but 
some white paneling just like the rest of the wood- 
work, with an old-fashioned paper above it. 

“ I give it up,” cried Marguerite. “ Do open your 
box, Nancy, and tell me if you like what’s in it.” 

Nancy untied the green and gold string, took off 
the gold-lettered wrapping paper and opened the box. 
In it lay a pair of tiny gold tongs on a little bed of 
lace paper. 

“I know what’s underneath,” said Nancy; “it’s 
chocolate candy. My brother Jack bought a box 
like this for me once for a Christmas present; but 
then he had to pay a visit on the way home, and he 
gave the candy to the little girl at that house, for she 
was lame. He knew I wouldn’t want any other 
Christmas present than just him, of course,” said 
Nancy loyally. 

Marguerite thought of the presents she had re- 
ceived on the family Christmas tree ever since she 
could remember. She put her arm around Nancy. 

“You’re a pretty nice sister,” she said. “May I 
have one of your chocolates, please ? ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 63 

Dinner was always served promptly at one o’clock at 
Beaumont Corners. It was usually rather a stiff meal 
but that day it went off gayly. The admiral and the 
general vied with each other in telling stories, and the 
little girls listened to them all, with great interest. 
After dinner the two old friends went out on the 
piazza together and Nancy and her guest were left to 
do as they liked. Nancy drew Marguerite down be- 
side her on the long sofa in the hall. 

“ It’s only a little bit after two o’clock, Marguerite,” 
she said, “ and it’s for you to choose what we shall 
do. I have ever so many places and things to show 
you ; would you rather go to drive or to walk or out 
in my canoe or see the animals, or the queer things in 
the house — for there are ever so many queer things — 
or what ? ” 

Marguerite was a young person who as the oldest 
of several children, had been accustomed to decide a 
good many questions with little delay, so her answer 
was ready. 

“ I should like to see the animals, please,” she said 
promptly, “for I want to know all your friends, 
Nancy. Then when I go home again I can imagine 
everything you are doing, day after day. Doesn’t it 
seem to you as if you heard a cat somewhere ? ” 


64 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

Nancy listened, then she sprang from the sofa. 

“ Come, let’s hunt for her,” she said, seizing Mar- 
guerite’s hand. “It’s Julia, and she’s shut in some- 
where, for she never cries until she begins to get 
hungry. Julia! Julia! where are you ? ” 

There was a faint, distressed mew, from somewhere, 
but although the little girls hurried back and forth, 
and up and down stairs, opening closet doors, they 
could not find the prisoner. 

“ Cry again, Julia ! cry louder ! ” commanded Nancy, 
standing in the middle of the hall, and in response 
there came a loud mew. 

Nancy flew to the old oak settle that stood beyond 
the fireplace, pulled up the lid, and there, comfortably 
curled on an old carriage rug, was a small Maltese cat. 
Her mouth was opening for another cry, but as she 
saw the rescuing party, she changed it to a yawn, and 
rose, stretching her paws and preparing to leave her 
bed. 

“Why, Julia Frost,” said Nancy reproachfully, 
“ you must have clambered in that settle this morning 
when Sylvanus took out the wrap for grandfather ! I 
am astonished at you.” She took the little cat up in 
her arms, and stroked her back; Julia began to purr. 
Nancy faced her toward the visitor. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 65 

“ This is my friend, Marguerite Compton, and you 
must never scratch her,” she said firmly ; “ and Mar- 
guerite, this is Julia Frost, named for my mother’s 
family because there are some things she’s afraid of ; 
and now we will go to the barn and see some more 
friends.” 

At the word “barn” Julia sprang from Nancy’s 
arms, ran across the hall to a door at the back and 
stood before it with one paw raised. 

“ See that,” said Nancy, “ we must hurry before she 
begins to scratch the door. Oh, Julia, it was nice of 
you to show off before the company ; it proves she 
likes you, Marguerite.” 

“ Does it ? ” said Marguerite, and feeling much flat- 
tered she followed her little hostess to the back door 
where Julia stood waiting. 


CHAPTER VI 
nancy’s friends 

As they went along to the barn by a grassy path, 
Haney explained things which she wished to have 
Marguerite understand at once. 

“ Grandfather says that horses should be kept in a 
stable and cows in a barn,” said Nancy, “ but our sta- 
ble was burned five years ago — I can show you the 
place where it stood — and we have only three horses 
now, so there has never been another stable. If Mr. 
Stone at the mill, would buy some of the land grand- 
father would like to sell him, or pay some money that 
grandfather thinks he owes us for water rights, I sup- 
pose there would be another stable and perhaps 
another horse.” 

Marguerite was a little lady, as Aunt Sylvia had 
said, but she could not help seeing that many things 
about the beautiful old place were sadly in need of 
repair ; there had been a hole, exquisitely darned, but 
large, in the table-cloth near her plate, and the furni- 
ture coverings were worn and shabby. She wondered 
a little, but she asked no questions. 

66 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 67 

“ Here is where the stable stood,” said Haney, “ and 
now it is used for the clothes-yard.” She lowered her 
voice a little. “ You can’t see it from the piazza where 
grandfather sits,” she said, “ and so I help Betty hang 
out the clothes and take them in, for Aunt Sylvia is 
getting too old for that sort of work, and Betty has a 
great deal to do ; and beside it keeps her contented 
when I help her and talk to her ; she is pretty lonely 
sometimes.” 

“ Does she have more than one afternoon a week ? ” 
asked Marguerite. Then she had to explain about city 
servants, for Haney looked so puzzled. 

“She doesn’t ever have an afternoon out,” said 
Haney softly, as they entered the barn; “ she wouldn’t 
know what to do with it, for she hasn’t any family or 
friends in Potterville. My brother Jack got her at 
an office in Boston, when she had just come from Hew 
Brunswick ; we’ve had her since last autumn, when 
Aunt Sylvia began to grow old. How here is my 
dear Jessie in this first stall. You saw her this morn- 
ing, but ” 

There was the sound of a sneeze from the hay-loft 
above their heads. Haney’s cheeks flushed and she 
cast a reproachful look in the direction from which 
the sound came. 


68 ‘The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“Sylvanus,” and her voice was as severe as she 
could make it, “ I thought you were to be off in the 
corn-field this afternoon. What are you doing up 
there ? ” 

As Sylvanus came slowly down the narrow stairs 
from the loft, wisps of straw clinging to his head and 
his clothes, he wore a shame-faced air, but his tongue 
was as ready as ever. 

“ I was just waiting, just a few minutes, Miss 
Nancy,” he said with a low bow to Marguerite, “to 
see if you’d be wanting me to help in the exhibition 
with Jessie, as you have in times and occasions past, 
Miss Nancy.” 

“ How did you know we would come out here ? ” 
demanded Nancy, but she had begun to smile and 
Sylvanus had no fear of her anger. 

“I just knew you would, Miss Nancy,” he said 
solemnly. “ When a young lady has a mare that she’s 
trained to do tricks, stands to reason she’ll pay the 
company the honor to have an exhibition just as soon 
as she can. And I’ll make up time in the corn-field 
afterward, honest and true, Miss Nancy,” he added 
seeing a look of hesitation on her face. 

Nancy ran into Jessie’s stall, giving orders to Syl- 
vanus as she went. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 69 

“ Turn Ezra and Mary Anne around in their stalls 
so they can see Jessie,” she said, “ for you know they 
are just as proud of her as they can be. Mary Anne 
is Jessie’s aunt, Marguerite, and Ezra works so hard on 
the farm I love to have him enjoy himself in the barn. 
He’s so glad haying is all over, aren’t you, Ezra ? ” 

By that time she had led Jessie out of her stall and 
the pretty mare rubbed her nose affectionately against 
the old horse as Sylvanus faced him about with his 
head toward the centre of the barn. 

“You are an old dear,” said Nancy patting his side, 
“ and so are you, Mary Anne. Jessie, bow respect- 
fully to your aunt ; watch her, Marguerite.” 

Marguerite watched and was rewarded by seeing 
Jessie lower her head and toss her mane before Mary 
Anne who must have been gratified, although it could 
not truly be said that she smiled. 

“Now,” said Nancy, “we will have a march. 
Please whistle 4 Marching Through Georgia,’ slowly, 
Sylvanus. Marguerite, will you please sit on the 
stage — that means the stairs.” 

Marguerite took her seat half way up the stairs, and 
Sylvanus stood on the threshold, his eyes fixed on his 
little mistress who stood facing him at the opposite 
end of the barn, her hand on Jessie’s left leg. 


70 "The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ Whistle,” said Nancy and Sylvanus began. Nancy 
patted the mare’s leg in perfect time to the music for 
the first four bars, then “ Now we’ll march, Jessie,” 
she whispered. 

She stamped her left foot on the barn floor and the 
mare whose head had been turned toward her brought 
down with a ringing sound the hoof which had been 
lifted at the whispered words. Side by side they 
marched across the barn till they reached Sylvanus. 

“ Halt ! ” cried Nancy. “ Salute ! ” 

The two marchers turned toward each other. Nancy 
made a courtesy with her hand over her heart, and 
Jessie tossed her mane, while Marguerite clapped and 
cried “ Encore ! ” and Sylvanus indulged in his broadest 
smile. There was another march and more applause. 
Then came what Nancy called “ an exhibition of cour- 
age.” She mounted Jessie and they rode back and 
forth while Sylvanus flourished before the mare at un- 
expected times various articles such as an old scare- 
crow, a dilapidated bicycle, a broom-handle tied with 
rags, and a lantern. At all of these things Jessie 
would pretend for a moment to be frightened ; she 
would raise her forefeet and prick up her ears, and 
then at the sound of Nancy’s soft voice, she would 
grow calm again, and go soberly on her way. 


"The Admiral' s Granddaughter 71 

The last trial was that with a fluttering scrap of 
paper which Sylvanus started on its course across the 
barn floor. It was evident that Jessie really did not 
like this, but she was brave as became a Beaumont. 
At last Nancy slipped from her back. 

“ Kneel ! ” she cried, raising her right hand with an 
air of command. 

Slowly, her eyes fixed on her little mistress, the 
mare sank till her knees rested on the barn floor. 
Then Nancy’s hand dropped and she ran to Jessie, 
putting her arms around the mare’s neck and rub- 
bing her soft cheek against Jessie’s satin skin. 

“Now get up slowly, carefully, so I won’t fall,” she 
said, and in a moment more Jessie stood proudly 
erect, tossing her pretty head at the sound of Mar- 
guerite’s clapping. 

“ Oh, that’s better than any circus could ever be ! ” 
cried Marguerite. “ If the boys could see her they’d 
be perfectly wild, Nancy ! How did you ever train 
her?” 

Nancy was feeding Jessie with a particular kind of 
tassel grass which was kept for rewards. Sylvanus 
gave a hollow cough, and Nancy knew how much he 
wished to speak. 

“You may tell if you like, Sylvanus,” she said, and 


72 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


he poured out the story of the hours of patient teach- 
ing it had taken before Nancy and the mare could give 
even the simplest exhibition. 

“ But the mare had gifts and talents,” said Sylvanus 
grandly, “that she certainly had, Miss Compton, 
otherwise Miss Nancy, though she occupied and 
engaged so many hours, could never have witnessed 
the encouragement she now has.” 

It was hard work for Marguerite to keep from 
laughing as the large words poured from his lips, but 
she managed to say, “ Thank you, Sylvanus,” in a 
smothered voice and he was quite content. Ezra and 
Mary Anne were turned about to their ordinary posi- 
tions, and Jessie was led to her stall after more pet- 
ting. 

“You’ve seen Julia,” said Nancy as they started 
from the barn, “ and I don’t know just where her kit- 
tens, Spick and , Span, are now, for they inherit their 
mother’s love of hiding.” 

“ Oh, Nancy, you are so funny and old-fashioned,” 
said Marguerite ; then seeing a look of surprise she 
put her arm around Nancy’s waist; “but it’s nice to 
be old-fashioned,” said Marguerite warmly. 

“ Thank you,” said Nancy, “ for I don’t know how 
to be anything else, Marguerite. Now here are the 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 73 

little black pigs, and aren’t they cunning ? Sylvanus 
keeps this nice closed-in grassy place for them, and 
they love it. Grandfather would not allow such dirty 
pigs as some people have in pens, to stay here. How 
do you do, little pigs ? ” 

Nancy pitched her voice high as she and Marguerite 
stood looking over the fence into the enclosure, and 
the four little pigs squealed back a welcome to 
her. 

“ I don’t name the pigs,” said Nancy as they turned 
away, “ because you see they never stay with us very 
long, or grow up really ; I have known so many pigs. 
It must be sad to be a little pig,” and Nancy looked 
quite sober at the thought until she joined in Mar- 
guerite’s laugh. 

There was a short walk to the hen-yard where the 
two friends lingered for some time, while Nancy 
pointed out her favorites. 

“ There is Jennie,” she said as a stout, motherly 
Plymouth Rock hen stepped sedately toward them ; 
“ she has a lovely disposition ; just as unselfish as she 
can be, and she brings up her children beautifully ; 
we all notice that they never quarrel as some of the 
others do, and they never try to eat more than their 
share. There’s Lucy ; she’s as pleasant as she can be, 


74 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

but Aunt Sylvia and I have decided that she is very 
untruthful.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” asked Marguerite. 

“ Why, just what I say,” Nancy answered with wide- 
open eyes. “ Some hens are untruthful, you must have 
known that. She’ll cackle and cackle, and perhaps 
she’s laid an egg and perhaps she hasn’t ; you can’t de- 
pend on anything she says, not a single word ! ” 

Marguerite laughed so long that it seemed as if she 
could not stop. At last, however, she managed to 
speak. 

“ Nancy,” she said, “ if there are any more animals, 
I think if you don’ t mind we’ll save them till to-mor- 
row ; for your animals are all so very remarkable, 
and I’ve laughed so hard that I have a pain in my 
side.” 

“ There is only Carlo, our old dog, left,” said Nancy, 
“ and he is way off in the fodder-corn-field with the 
two hired men, and he won’t be back for a long time 
yet. The hired men live on the farm that joins grand- 
father’s land, and they work for grandfather when he 
needs them, so they don’t really belong to our family, 
but Carlo has known them a long time and he likes to 
be with them. I think he likes me too, but he is so 
dignified I am not sure ; so your not seeing him the 


T'he Admiral' s Granddaughter 75 

first day does not matter, for Carlo and I are not in- 
timate friends.” 

“ Could we go and sit near a brook ? ” asked Mar- 
guerite, as they walked along over the short grass, 
swinging hands, “ unless you meant to go back to the 
house.” 

Nancy pulled her gently toward the orchard. 

“ I should like to live outdoors all the time,” she said 
joyfully, “ and I know a place where we can sit right 
in the middle of the brook. Oh, Marguerite, I’m so 
glad you’ve come ! ” 


CHAPTEK VII 


A RIDING LESSON 

That afternoon was the first of many delightful 
times for Nancy and her guest. The sun shone and 
the air was clear and soft, day after day ; nobody 
could have wished for finer weather. The two little 
girls roamed over the place together, drove or rode or 
walked along the roads until Marguerite had learned 
all Nancy’s favorite spots. And two or three times 
they went up the narrow river in Nancy’s canoe. 

“ I’m afraid I can never sit still long enough,” Mar- 
guerite had said the first day, but Nancy only laughed 
at her. 

“ You won’t find it so hard as you think,” she said, 
“ and at any rate, Marguerite, this river is so shallow 
that you could not possibly drown in it, even if you 
hadn’t learned to swim in salt water. The sea must 
be grand.” 

“ It is,” said Marguerite, as she seated herself in the 
canoe, cautiously, and watched Nancy skilfully push 
away from the bank ; “ but I’ve never been on it, ex- 
cept in a big steamboat, I’ve only been in it.” 

76 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 77 

The canoe was fitted out with a strip of bright red 
carpet, comfortable back-rests of polished wood, and 
half a dozen brightly colored pillows. 

“ What a little beauty this canoe is,” said Marguer- 
ite as moved by Nancy’s paddle the slender craft 
glided through the rushes softly but surely. 

“ Yes, it is Jack’s,” said Nancy, “ but he lets me 
call it mine now that he is so seldom at home, and he 
taught me how to paddle. You don’t know how 
splendidly he does everything, Marguerite. I just 
wish you could see him ! ” 

“ I should like to see him,” said Marguerite quietly. 
Her eyes were on some lily-pads, but she was thinking 
that if she could see Nancy’s brother there were some 
things she would say to him even if he were a grown- 
up young man. She was inclined to think he might 
be selfish, and that he did not half appreciate his little 
sister ; but she had to be careful that Nancy should 
not guess her thoughts. 

There were some belated cardinal flowers on a bank 
and they almost caused an accident. 

“ Oh, look, what a beautiful red ! ” Marguerite cried ; 
and forgetting everything that Nancy had told her 
she leaned so far over that only Nancy’s quickness 
saved them from capsizing. 


78 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


She leaned the other way and drove her paddle 
straight down into the pebbly bed of the brook, be- 
tween two stones ; it bent but before it could break 
Marguerite was back in her place. 

“ I’m so sorry, Nancy ! I won’t forget again,” she 
said humbly, and Nancy laughed. 

“ I fell into the river five times before I could re- 
member to keep still,” she said ; “ you are doing beauti- 
fully, Marguerite. I’ll paddle closer and then you 
can stand and get some cardinal flowers.” 

They took a handful home with them and some 
plume-like sprays of golden-rod which grew in one of 
the Beaumont pastures. 

“ Grandfather likes to keep one of these over your 
father’s picture,” said Nancy as they picked the golden- 
rod, “ and he hasn’t had any for two weeks. The day 
I got your letter I had seen some on the road to 
Potterville and I meant to get it on the way home, 
and I was so excited I forgot all about it ! ” 

“ I was excited, too,” said Marguerite. “ Mother said 
I was as uneasy as an eel those last days at home,” 
and then the two friends smiled at each other and 
thought how pleasant it was to be together. 

“ I’m having even a better time than I thought I 
should,” said Marguerite as they walked slowly home, 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 79 

looking at the sunset which glowed through the pine 
trees. 

“ So am I,” said Nancy, “ a great deal better ! You 
are my most intimate friend.” 

“ I shall have you for mine,” said Marguerite, “ ex- 
cept mother, of course.” 

“ Of course,” said Nancy, “ I meant except my 
mother, too, because I tell everything to her picture 
you know ; little bothering things that you wouldn’t 
want to tell even an intimate friend.” 

“ I know,” said Marguerite, nodding violently ; 
“ fusses and silly things, and worries.” 

“ Yes,” said Nancy, drawing a long breath. There 
was one thing that had been worrying her a little even 
in the midst of her happiness. Her grandfather had 
twice spoken of her brother Jack in a way that Nancy 
could not understand ; as if Jack were to blame about 
something serious. And he had not read her a word 
of J ack’s letter that came two days ago ; and there had 
been three thick envelopes in the same mail which 
Nancy thought must have held bills from the way her 
grandfather frowned as he opened the long strips of 
paper that were inside them. “ I wish I knew what 
was the matter,” thought Nancy, but she did not dare 
to ask. The general and Marguerite had been in the 


80 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


room at the time, and since then her grandfather had 
not referred to the letters in any way. 

“ But he said Jack was well, when I asked him,” 
thought Nancy, “ so I guess it will all come out right 
by and by.” 

Marguerite’s riding had made great fun for both the 
little girls, from the first time she tried it. 

“ You must ride Jessie, because she is so gentle,” 
said Nancy. “ Ezra used to be a good saddle horse, 
but now he is not quite sure-footed going down the 
hills, and if he stepped wrong I could look out for my 
self better than you — just yet,” she added. 

“ You needn’t be so polite,” said Marguerite mer- 
rily, “ I told you I must be tied on, at first ; but — has 
anybody ever ridden Mary Anne ? I like her, and 
she looked so wistful yesterday when Jessie was 
performing; don’t you think I might ride Mary 
Anne ? ” 

“ Why, you could try,” said Nancy, “ her back is 
pretty hollow. And I believe she would like it ; she 
has to stay in the barn alone a good deal ; and she 
isn’t old exactly ; she’s only eighteen or nineteen or 
maybe twenty, Sylvanus thinks.” 

“ Let me give her a lump of sugar and try,” said 
Marguerite ; “ the admiral and father are in the midst 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 81 

of the war of 1812 now on the piazza and they won’t 
need us.” 

“No indeed, we might get in the way of the guns,” 
laughed Nancy, as they ran toward the barn. 

Halfway there they met Aunt Sylvia with her 
apron full of yellow apples. 

“ Oh, Aunt Sylvia,” said Nancy, “ come out to the 
barn with us ; Marguerite is going to mount Mary 
Anne and see if she — if she’d like to ride her.” 

“ You mean see if Mary Anne would like to have 
me ride her,” said Marguerite ; “ please do come.” 

With two arms meeting at the bow of her apron- 
strings, and two coaxing faces close to hers, what 
could Aunt Sylvia do ? 

“ Sylvanus most prob’ly has a basket in de barn dat 
dese apples could rest in while Aunt Sylvy ’sists at 
de mounting,” she said slowly ; “ but yet he might 
not ; and maybe ” 

“ Please don’t * maybe,’ Aunt Sylvia,” begged 
Nancy, and together the two little girls pulled her 
toward the barn ; it was easy work, for evidently 
Aunt Sylvia was by no means loth to go. 

“ Lots to do in de house,” she muttered as she 
poured the apples into a basket Nancy found on a 
hook in the barn, “ but I habn’t seen much of my 


82 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


lamb since de company came, so I’m just going to hab 
a holiday hour.” 

“I think you may have to stand on something, 
Marguerite,” said Nancy as she led out the bewildered 
Mary Anne who had been napping in her stall. 
“ Mary Anne seems pretty high.” 

“ I will stand on the stairs,” said Marguerite, “ and 
you back Mary Anne up as close as you can, side- 
ways ; then she won’t see who it is that’s getting on.” 

Nancy backed Mary Anne along to the stairs and 
held her head. Aunt Sylvia gave a helping hand to 
Marguerite, but the minute her skirt touched Mary 
Anne’s back the mare gave a snort of wrath and 
pulling her bridle away from Nancy’s hand, she pro- 
ceeded to lie down on the barn floor. Marguerite 
who was not fairly on, slipped safely back into Aunt 
Sylvia’s arm shaking with laughter. 

“ Oh, Mary Anne, how silly you are,” said Nancy 
severely ; “ get right up this minute ! ” 

Mary Anne required little urging, but she did rise 
at last, shaking her head and looking rather sheepish, 
Nancy thought. 

“Now,” said Nancy, raising her forefinger and 
looking straight up in Mary Anne’s eyes, “ I am 
going to mount you, and if you lie down, Mary 


‘ The Admiral' s Granddaughter 83 

Anne Beaumont, I shall stay on, and you may break 
some of my bones. Please don’t be a foolish old 
dear,” she added, stroking the white star on Mary 
Anne’s forehead. 

The mare gave a soft whinny and stood perfectly 
quiet while Nancy brought a milking stool close to 
her side. 

“ Please stand far enough away so she cannot fall 
on you,” said Nancy to Marguerite and Aunt Sylvia. 
“ Yes, I’ll be careful, Aunt Sylvia. Now Mary Anne, 
I am on the stool ; and now I — am — on — your — 
back ! ” 

Mary Anne’s ears quivered, and her nostrils dilated, 
but she stood perfectly still. 

“Why, you dear old Mary Anne,” cried Nancy 
with quick remorse, “ you are as still as anybody 
could be. Will you take me a little ride out through 
the barn door and around the first pasture ? ” 

Mary Anne’s ears quivered still, but her eyes were 
not so wild ; there was a gentle pull at the reins, a soft 
pressure from Nancy’s little shoes, and Mary Anne’s 
hoofs were lifted. She started off at a peculiar loping 
gait which was not ungraceful, and Nancy sat as if 
she had ridden the mare all her life. 

“Isn’t anyt’ing on four legs my lamb couldn’t 


84 "The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


ride,” said Aunt Sylvia with pride as she and Mar- 
guerite watched Mary Anne’s progress around the 
pasture. Once Nancy stopped the mare and talked 
to her for a moment, then on they came toward the 
barn. 

Nancy dismounted with flushed cheeks and spark- 
ling eyes, and led Mary Anne back to her stall. 

“ I’ll explain to Marguerite, and it will be all 
right,” she said, and then she left the mare with a 
final pat. 

“ You see it is this way,” said Nancy, putting her 
arm around Marguerite’s waist, “ Mary Anne is get- 
ting a little old, and she doesn’t make friends easily, 
and she is nervous. So if you won’t feel hurt, Mar- 
guerite, I think I’d better ride her, and give Jessie to 
you, for Jessie will never make any trouble. I’ll just 
tell her about it, and it will be all right ; I’ve talked 
to Mary Anne and I think she is pleased.” 

She was so earnest that Marguerite could not bear 
to laugh, much as she wished to do so. 

“ Whatever you like best,” she said as soberly as 
she could, “but I hate to take Jessie away from you.” 

“ Oh, nobody could do that really, because she loves 
me,” said Nancy quickly ; “ but I’m glad to lend her 
to you. Jessie ! ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 85 

The pretty mare turned her head instantly at the 
sound of her name. Nancy went into the stall and 
brought her out. Jessie stood, apparently under- 
standing all that was said to her, while the saddle and 
bridle were arranged. Then Marguerite mounted the 
milking-stool and from that she reached the saddle in 
safety. 

“ Now I will walk in front and we’ll go very slowly 
at first, till you are used to her,” said Nancy, and they 
started, Marguerite clutching the reins, and Nancy 
and Aunt Sylvia as a body-guard. At the first hint of 
quicker motion Marguerite began to slip. 

“ I shall be off in a minute,” she cried ; “ somebody 
please catch me.” 

“Stop, Jessie!” called Nancy, and the mare in- 
stantly obeyed. Meanwhile Aunt Sylvia had seized 
the folds of Marguerite’s skirt with a firm hand. 

“ Lean dis way, child o’ mortality ! ” she cried. 
u Keep yo’ balance, Miss Marguerite ! One fall makes 
de next one easy. Hyah ! dere now, you won’t fall, 
dis time anyway, if dese gathers hold ! ” 

Sure enough, the gathers held long enough for the 
rider to right herself without really leaving Jessie’s 
back, though she was flushed and panting with the 
effort to keep from it. 


86 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


“ You’ll have to stay close by me until I’ve learned 
to ride,” she said to Aunt Sylvia when the morning’s 
trial was over, “ and I’m very much obliged to you, 
Aunt Sylvia, for helping me.” 

“ Aunt Sylvy’s got some work and uses left in her 
yet,” said the old woman greatly pleased, “ and I know 
where dere’s some nut cakes just waiting for a couple 
o’ young ladies to eat.” 

“ Oh, Aunt Sylvia ! ” cried Marguerite and Nancy 
together. Nancy seized the basket of apples, and 
Marguerite linked her arm in Aunt Sylvia’s. 

“ Now you ’member dat Aunt Sylvy’s way ’long 
somewhere in de nineties or hundreds, nobody knows 
how old, and can’t run like she did when she was in 
de fifties,” came the warning, but Aunt Sylvia was 
chuckling with delight as the three hurried side by 
side toward the house, the apples bouncing about in 
the basket, and she was the first to step up on the 
kitchen porch. 

“ You and Miss Marguerite seat yourselves com- 
fortable on de bench,” she said as she took the basket 
from Nancy’s hands, “ and I’ll send dat Betty to fetch 
you out some nut cakes and a little teenty bit o’ 
cheese ; most likely she’s been folding her hands all de 
time I’ve been gone.” 


! The Admiral' s Granddaughter 87 

Aunt Sylvia spoke so loud that rosy -cheeked Betty, 
hard at work in the kitchen, could not have failed to 
hear her, but she evidently bore no grudge, for when 
Nancy smiled at her as she took the plate of nut cakes, 
Betty smiled back in a most good-natured way. Mar- 
guerite ate one bite of her nut cake and clasped her 
hands over the rest of it. 

“ Nancy Beaumont ! ” she cried. “ I never tasted 
anything so good in all my life before ! If it weren’t 
for my family, I should ask your grandfather if I 
might stay right on for a year and eat nut cakes every 
day. I’m gladder and gladder that I came, every 
minute ! ” 


CHAPTER VIII 


FROM GARDEN TO GARRET 

The two weeks of Marguerite’s visit went alto- 
gether too fast ; she and Nancy used every minute of 
each day, but the hours flew by in spite of all they 
could do. 

“Day after to-morrow, and it seems as if I came 
yesterday ! ” mourned Marguerite from her seat close 
to Nancy on the big flat rock in the middle of the 
brook, easily reached by short jumps from two 
smaller stones which made a “ dry bridge ” from the 
bank. 

The little girls had spent some time almost every 
day on this big stone ; they had often left their shoes 
and stockings on it while they waded in the brook 
and returned there to let the bright September sun- 
shine take the place of a towel. 

“ Think of leaving all this lovely country, and most 
of all leaving you,” said Marguerite, giving Nancy a 
loving squeeze ; “ and Jessie ! I’ve grown so fond of 
her ! Do you think she will miss me, Nancy ? 
You’ve been so good to let me have her all this 
time.” 


88 


"The Admiral' s Granddaughter 89 

“ Of course she’ll miss you,” said Nancy warmly. 
She was certain of it, and yet way down in the very 
bottom of her heart she knew that the only thing 
that made her a little bit less sorrowful over Mar- 
guerite’s home-going than she might have been, was 
the thought that she could ride her dear Jessie again. 
Every night before the two girls went up to bed 
Nancy had stolen out alone for a good-night talk with 
the mare. She knew Jessie had understood why she 
rode Mary Anne, but sometimes it had been just a 
little hard to resist the pleading brown eyes when 
Nancy and Marguerite were starting for their daily 
ride. 

“ Father is so delighted to think I have learned to 
ride,” said Marguerite, “and he has promised to buy 
me a horse next month when he goes up to Vermont 
to see his old friend General Lane ; father spends a 
day or two with him every autumn, and he says 
they raise fine horses on a place not far away. But 
I’ve told him I shouldn’t be contented unless he found 
a chestnut mare just like Jessie.” 

Marguerite was dipping her fingers in a little pool 
of water that a shower had left in a cranny of the big 
rock, and she did not look up to see Nancy’s startled 
face. The little girl was glad that Marguerite went on 


90 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


talking and did not wait for her to speak just then. 
Suppose the general should offer to buy Jessie? Per- 
haps her grandfather would not think it was wise to 
let an excellent chance go ; she had heard him say that 
General Compton was able to pay a large price for 
anything he wished. 

“ I’m afraid I couldn’t behave like a Beaumont for 
one single minute if Jessie were sold,” she thought, 
her heart swelling until her throat ached, then she 
tried to be quiet and listen to what Marguerite was 
saying. 

“ You said we’d take a long ride the very last day, 
and that’s to-morrow,” said Marguerite, “ so that only 
leaves this afternoon for the garret and the secret 
drawer. Haven’t I been pretty patient, Haney ? Al- 
most two weeks and I haven’t asked you once about 
that drawer, though you’ve put things in it every 
morning to surprise me.” 

Haney swallowed something which rose in her 
throat and met Marguerite’s glance with a smile. 

“ You have been just as good as good could be,” she 
said affectionately, “ and this afternoon I will tell you 
all about it, and show you just how it works. Mar- 
guerite, have we time for a paddle before we go home 
for dinner ? ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 91 

Nancy had no watch, but Marguerite had a charm- 
ing little one which had been brought her from 
Switzerland. She looked at it, and showed its face to 
Nancy. 

“ Not quite, I’m afraid,” she said regretfully, “ but 
Nancy, we have time for the garden, I’m sure.” 

“ The garden is almost the best of anything, isn’t 
it ? ” said Nancy, and Marguerite agreed with her. 

There were round beds of geraniums, and some fine 
shrubs scattered over the lawn in front of the house, 
but the real garden stretched out at the side, begin- 
ning under Nancy’s balcony. There were some roses 
that started on a trellis and climbed until the topmost 
ones could nod good-morning to the little girl when 
they chose. 

“ Let’s go in through the arch,” said Marguerite, 
“ that always makes me feel stately and important.” 

She took Nancy’s arm, and they went under the 
boxwood arch with a mincing step, their heads held on 
one side like those of some of the grand ladies on the 
Beaumont walls. The paths of the garden were all 
edged with boxwood, and a photograph taken from a 
balloon would have showed something that looked 
like a maze, the paths wandered in and out and crossed 
each other in such mysterious ways. In the centre of 


92 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


the garden was a little fountain that plashed and 
played from morning till night. 

“ I wish I could decide on my favorite flower,” said 
Marguerite as they strolled along the paths ; “ I mean 
of the old-fashioned ones. Sometimes I think these 
white hollyhocks are the loveliest, and then sometimes 
the dahlias look the most beautiful; and I’m sure 
nothing could be a handsomer color than the larkspur. 
And then there’s the London Pride. What do you 
like best, Nancy ? ” 

“ I love them all,” said Nancy, “ but this is my 
favorite, I think ; yes, I know it is.” 

“ Why, Nancy Beaumont, it’s hardly any color but 
light green, though it does smell delicious,” and Mar- 
guerite buried her small nose in the midst of some 
long drooping sprays of ambrosia. “ What makes you 
love it best ? ” 

“ I’ll tell you this afternoon, when we are up in the 
garret,” said Nancy ; “ here’s a spray for each of us to 
take, and now I suppose we must hurry, for I hear 
Aunt Sylvia calling.” 

The afternoon was cool, and the big garret warm 
from the sun which was flooding its western windows, 
was a delightful place. There were all sorts of dried 
herbs hanging from the rafters, and there was 



“ I WISH I COULD DECIDE MY FAVORITE FLOWER 
























































































The Admiral' s Granddaughter 93 

“ enough furniture to fill a small house,” Marguerite 
exclaimed. 

“ It would be a queer house,” laughed Nancy, 
“ three pineapple bedsteads, a crib, four bureaus, one 
chair, and not a single table ; three pitchers without a 
bowl to match and five spinning wheels. Grand- 
mother always said there might come a time when all 
these things would be needed, but it hasn’t come yet.” 

“ Let’s sit on that old trunk over there in the win- 
dow, and you tell me why you love ambrosia,” said 
Marguerite. 

“ I must take something out of the trunk first,” said 
Nancy. 

She lifted the stout iron hasp and opened the old 
trunk. There came a strong odor of lavender, and 
Nancy drew out something flat and square, wrapped 
in a piece of pale yellow silk. When they were 
seated on the trunk she carefully unwrapped it and 
disclosed to Marguerite a cardboard sampler, worked 
in worsted of many colors. 

“ Nancy Beaumont ! ” cried Marguerite, “ do you 
mean to tell me that you made that sampler ? The 
red house with green blinds ? and those trees and the 
man and woman with the little boy between them ? 
and the wheelbarrow, Nancy Beaumont, and the four 


94 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


alphabets, and the numbers and your name? You 
couldn’t ! ” 

Nancy nodded, with great delight. 

“ Every bit of it,” she said ; “ but Marguerite, I had 
a pattern for everything except the wheelbarrow, and 
grandmother said that was uneven.” 

Marguerite looked at it critically for a moment. 

“ It does seem as if there was something a little 
queer about it,” she admitted, “ but I should play it 
was an old wheelbarrow and had warped, Nancy. 
After counting all those stitches for the other things, 
I should have wanted something uneven.” 

“ I did,” said Nancy. “ There were hundreds and 
hundreds of stitches to count, Marguerite, and I wasn’t 
quite six years old ; it was the last year grandmother 
lived, and my fingers used to get so hot and 
sticky ! ” 

“ Dear me, it tires me just to think of it ! What a 
smart child you must have been, Nancy,” and Mar- 
guerite groaned in a comical way. 

“ No,” said Nancy, as she wrapped the sampler in 
the yellow silk again, “ I wasn’t ; I had to take out 
stitches ever and ever so many times, and how I did 
hate you!” She shook the sampler as if it could 
really feel and ought to be sorry. “ And that’s why 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 95 

I love ambrosia,” she added, and she laid the yellow 
silk package on the floor. 

44 What is why ? ” demanded Marguerite. 

44 The sampler,” said Nancy soberly. “ When I had 
finished my hour’s work on it and grandmother had 
looked at it and said 4 Pretty well,’ I used to run to 
Aunt Sylvia and tell her. Then she’d say, 4 Honey 
bunch has got to have a wreath and play queen,’ and 
we would go off to the garden together. 

44 Aunt Sylvia would pick some sprays of ambrosia 
and twine them together till she made a wreath ; then 
she put it on my head, and made a curtsey, and said, 
4 What will my queen have, now ? ’ and I’d say, 4 My 
throne.’ Then she always carried me to the seat by 
the fountain, and put me in it, and stood in front of 
me, and said, 4 What next, my queen ? ’ and I’d say, 4 My 
very best throne, not this one,’ and pretend to be cross, 
and get off the seat and wave my arm ; and then Aunt 
Sylvia would sit down and I would get up in her lap, 
and she’d sing me ‘Blow li’l’ breezes,’ and I’d go to 
sleep, and while I was going I could smell the am- 
brosia. So that’s why I love it.” 

44 1 don’t wonder,” said Marguerite, and for a minute 
the two little girls were quite still. 

44 When I was six, I just played all day long till I 


96 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


was so tired I couldn’t sit up or stay awake another 
minute,” said Marguerite, “ and then mother would 
tuck me up in bed and — oh, Nancy, I shall never be 
perfectly happy till you come to make us a visit, and 
let mother tuck you up and play you are little, be- 
cause ” but Marguerite broke off for the second 

time and put her bright face close to Nancy’s wistful 
one instead of saying another word. 

“ I don’t wish to be too curious,” she said a moment 
later, as she spied a low door in the wall not far from 
the great chimney, “ but Nancy, where does that door 
lead ? You’ve shown me four closets already.” 

“Come!” cried Nancy, springing from the trunk 
and holding out her hand, “ as soon as I’ve put the 
sampler away, I will show you the most mysterious 
place you ever saw ! ” 

The sampler was thrust hastily inside the old trunk, 
and Nancy led the way to the low door which Mar- 
guerite had noticed. It had no latch, but one of the 
panels had a little knob in its centre ; Nancy pressed 
hard on this, and the door flew open, showing a small 
square space, dimly lighted, and a glimpse of a wind- 
ing staircase. 

“ Stoop and enter ! ” said Nancy in a hoarse whisper, 
her eyes dancing with fun, and Marguerite promptly 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 97 

obeyed her. Nancy followed, crouching till they were 
safely out in the dimly lighted space. Marguerite 
turned around and around in bewilderment. 

“ Why where did we come in ? ” she asked. “ Where 
is the door ? ” 

But there had been a soft sound as Nancy straight- 
ened herself, and the doorway had vanished. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE SECRET STAIRWAY 

“ It’s like the things you read about that you think 
never could be true,” said Marguerite softly ; “ now I 
know there was a door, for how else did we get here, 
but I don’t see it. Haney, are you a witch ? ” 

“ The door is there, but it looks just like all the rest 
of the wall,” said Nancy laughing ; “ as soon as your 
eyes get used to the light, we’ll go down the staircase 
if you like, and look at the general and grandfather.” 

Marguerite looked up to see what lighted the large 
room in which they stood, and saw that at the head of 
the staircase there was a window of heavy glass, which 
apparently opened on to the roof. 

“ Could we go out on the roof ? ” she asked. “ I 
never saw that window from the ground.” 

“ You couldn’t see it because there’s a pointed place 
in the roof on one side and the big chimney on the 
other, to hide it,” said Nancy. “ This staircase was 
built by my great-great-great-grandfather, and it was 
because he was afraid of Indians, people say. But 
grandfather savs he doesn’t believe that of a Beau- 
98 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 99 

mont ; he thinks it was because he found there was 
waste room, and the real Beaumonts have always been 
thrifty. It’s the Frost part of me that forgets to save 
strings and pins and things, I suppose.” 

They laughed softly as they began to go down the 
stairs. When they had gone a little way they came 
to another floor and Nancy said they were going past 
the bedrooms. 

“Now we are going under the front hall,” she said 
after a few more turns ; “ it’s getting pretty dark, 
isn’t it, but we’re almost there.” 

There was a smell of earth, and in a minute more 
they were on the ground in a small square space, three 
sides of which were solid plaster and the fourth was 
of iron, with a low hinged door close to the ground. 

“ That’s the door to the underground passage, grand- 
father says, but it hasn’t been opened since he was a 
little boy,” whispered Nancy, “ and he thinks the pas- 
sage must have been choked up long ago ; I believe it 
came out way down near the brook, out of sight of the 
house.” 

“ Did your ancestor who wasn’t afraid of anything 
think ground was wasted unless he dug under it ? ” 
whispered Marguerite, but Nancy shook her finger at 
her, laughing under her breath. 


LOFC. 


ioo The Admiral's Granddaughter 

“ Don’t you make fun of him,” she said. “ Look 
overhead, Marguerite. They’re playing chess ; in a 
minute we’ll call to them. Grandfather’s always 
pleased when I come down the staircase, because I 
used to be a little afraid at first, it was so dark and 
poky.” 

Marguerite looked up, and saw that above them was 
the floor of the piazza ; there were spaces between the 
boards, and she could see the broad sole of one of her 
father’s boots, cutting off the light from her. She 
rose on tiptoe and squinted her eyes to look through 
another crack. 

“Your grandfather isn’t very much interested in 
the game, Nancy,” she whispered. “ See, he’s holding 
a queen in his hand, but he isn’t looking at the chess- 
board. He’s ” 

Suddenly they heard the admiral’s voice. He did 
not speak loud, but as his head was bent, the words 
were carried to the little girls as if he had spoken to 
them. 

“I haven’t the money,” said the admiral slowly, 
“ and I will not borrow it. I’m sorry for the boy but 
he has brought it on himself. I will pay his debts and 
then ” 

For a moment Nancy had stood as if she were 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 101 

chained to the spot, but before the admiral had fin- 
ished his sentence, she had seized Marguerite’s hand, 
and pulled her to the stairs. 

“ Come,” she whispered with sudden fright in her 
eyes, “ we mustn’t stay here, Marguerite, we must go 
right away as fast as we can.” 

She flew so swiftly up the narrow stairs that poor 
Marguerite, dragged upward after her, fell flat on her 
face before they had reached the second story. 

“ Oh, Nancy,” she panted, “ couldn’t we go a little 
bit slower the rest of the way ? We can’t hear any- 
thing now.” 

“ Excuse me, please,” said Nancy humbly ; “ I — I 
was so frightened, and I knew we ought not to listen,” 
and she went slowly the rest of the way, till they 
reached the garret floor. 

Nancy’s heart was beating, and her face was full of 
trouble. What should she do ? All at once some 
words she had heard her grandmother say to a visitor 
came into her mind. The visitor had attempted to 
sympathize with her grandmother over the loss of a 
valuable necklace. 

“ My child,” the old lady had said, and Nancy re- 
membered just how severe she had looked, “ I thank 
you, but I was early taught that while we should wel- 


102 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


come a share in the troubles of a guest, only our joys 
should be shared with him.” 

Admiral Beaumont had often referred to the inci- 
dent, and kept it fresh in Nancy’s memory. Now, for 
the first time in her life, she found it useful. Mar- 
guerite was her guest, and this was their last day to- 
gether. It must not be made unhappy. She would 
try to forget her trouble till the guest had gone. 

“ Nancy, are you worried ? ” asked Marguerite 
gently, and Nancy managed to smile as she turned to 
her friend. 

“ I was, but I won’t be now,” she said. “ I’ll show 
you about the door, and then the secret drawer, Mar- 
guerite. See, there is a little rough place in the wall 
here ; that is the spring, though it looks more like a 
knot in the wood. Press hard on it. ” 

Marguerite pressed and the door flew open, as it had 
for Nancy. When they were once more in the garret 
and had shaken off the dust of their journey, they went 
down-stairs to Nancy’s room. 

“ I suppose your room is covered all over with 
secret springs, after what I’ve seen,” said Marguerite, 
as she stood in the middle of the room ; “ I believe 
there’s one behind that tapestry for that would be on 
a line with the bureau in my room.” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 103 

“ You have guessed right,” said Nancy, “ but it isn’t 
exactly a spring this time, Marguerite, at least not like 
the one up in the garret, and it’s the only one in my 
room. Put your hand on the middle panel and push 
to the left. There, now what do you see ? ” 

What Marguerite saw was part of the back of the 
bureau that stood in her room. The surface was 
smooth except where one drawer stood out a little. 

“ Put your hand underneath,” said Nancy, and 
Marguerite felt the under side of the projecting 
drawer with her fingers. 

“ There’s something like the end of a stick,” she 
said, “ close to the edge of the bureau.” 

“ Push it up,” said Nancy, “ and let go quickly.” 

Marguerite pushed, and hastily withdrew her fin- 
gers ; none too soon, for as she did it the drawer shot 
out of sight leaving a square hole, into which she 
peered. 

“ I can see the back of it, I think,” she said, with- 
drawing her head and turning to Nancy. “ I suppose 
it’s in my room, now.” 

“ Yes,” said Nancy, “and it won’t come back till 
you push it in ; when you’ve pushed it just as far 
as you can, the little stick springs back into place 
again.” 


104 7 /^ Admiral's Granddaughter 

“ Did one of your ancestors do that ? ” asked Mar- 
guerite. “ The same one that built the secret stair- 
case ? ” 

“ Grandfather thinks he must have made the sliding 
panel,” said Nancy, “ but the drawer is different. 
That was made by a young Japanese who was a 
friend of my father when they were boys.” 

“ How interesting ! ” cried Marguerite. “ Do tell 
me about him, Nancy.” 

“ He came here to spend a vacation with father, for 
they were at boarding school together,” said Nancy, 
“ and father liked the Japanese boy very much ; and 
the day after they got here, father came down with 
the measles ; he was put in your room and the 
Japanese boy was here in mine. 

“ Aunt Sylvia — she’s the one who told me all about 
it — says he was the lonesomest boy she ever knew, 
and he begged her to give him something to do. It 
was stormy, and they wouldn’t let him go into fa- 
ther’s room, and Aunt Sylvia pitied him dreadfully ; 
and father was lonesome too, and uneasy. I guess 
Aunt Sylvia had a pretty hard time, though she 
didn’t tell me so. 

“ At any rate, one day she showed him the sliding 
panel, and said nobody knew what it was for, and he 


' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 105 

looked perfectly delighted when he saw the back of 
the bureau. He asked Aunt Sylvia to go into father’s 
room, and he would knock on the back of the bureau 
with a stick, so she could find out where he was 
hitting ; and she found he hit just behind the drawer. 
Then, she said, he thanked her — he was always just 
as polite, Aunt Sylvia says — and went down-stairs 
and asked grandfather’s permission to cut out the 
back of the bureau in that place ; and nobody cpuld 
refuse him anything because he was so polite, so of 
course grandfather said he might. 

“ And when Aunt Sylvia told father, he was just as 
excited as could be, and he watched and w T atched till 
the drawer disappeared — that was as soon as the hole 
was cut, you see, and the Japanese boy could pull it 
out from the back. Then it was the end of the next 
day before he saw it slide into place again. He went 
to the bureau — father did — and pulled and pulled, but 
he couldn’t move it. Then be sent Aunt Sylvia to 
ask what the matter was, for he had been sure the 
Japanese boy would put something in the drawer, for 
fun. And while Aunt Sylvia was gone, the drawer 
shot right out, and in it was a sheet of paper with 
ladies’ faces painted on it ! 

“That Japanese boy could paint all sorts of won- 


io6 T'he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


derful things, as fast as you could count, and every 
day after that the drawer would go back and forth 
ever so many times. Father used to put in all sorts 
of things he’d whittled, and the Japanese boy would 
paint pictures, and almost before they knew it father 
was well, and they could be together again.” 

“Oh, I wish I could see some of the things he 
painted,” said Marguerite, with a sigh. “ That’s a 
lovely story to have connected with a room, Nancy.” 

“I’ll show you all the things he painted,” said 
Nancy; “I’ve saved them on purpose for to-day. 
Aunt Sylvia says that father pinned the sheets of 
paper together as fast as they came, and when he 
went off to school again, he put them all in the 
secret drawer.” 

While she talked Nancy was opening the lower 
drawer of her bureau. She took from it a square box 
made of cardboard with faded pink roses on the 
cover, and edges of faded pink ribbon. She put the 
box on the bed and the two friends knelt on the floor 
beside it. 

“ These are my best treasures,” said Nancy, softly, 
as she untied the loose knot of the old ribbon. 
“On top is my mother’s picture, you see, and here 
is her wedding handkerchief, and the white bead 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 107 

bag she made ; and here is father’s wedding necktie, 
and two letters he wrote mother, and here at the 
bottom I keep the Japanese pictures. Aunt Sylvia 
says that when my mother came here as a bride she 
made a hole in the top of each sheet, — see, Marguerite 
— and tied them all together with this ribbon that 
had been on one of her wedding slippers. She never 
saw the Japanese boy, you know, because he had 
gone back to Japan long before that, but he had 
asked them to go to visit him ; he was a real artist, 
though he never painted pictures for money. I wish 
I could go to Japan some day and find out where he 
lives, and see him.” 

“Wouldn’t that be splendid!” cried Marguerite. 
“ Don’t you just love to travel, Nancy ? I’ve been 
to Washington and Baltimore and Philadelphia and 
Boston and Niagara Falls.” 

“ I’ve been to Potterville,” said Nancy, and then 
they both laughed, but only for a minute, for when 
Nancy spread the Japanese picture book on the bed 
and began to turn the leaves, everything else was 
forgotten. 

There were wonderful birds and flowers ; figures of 
ladies in gay attire holding fans above their heads ; 
children playing with kites ; groups of people drinking 


io8 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


tea; queer pagodas and bridges; long-necked cranes 
and funny broad fish ; skies with the moon half hidden 
by clouds; all sorts of things the Japanese boy had 
painted, and to Marguerite they all seemed perfect. 
When the last page was turned and Nancy put the lit- 
tle paper book back in the card-board box, Marguerite 
gave a sigh of regret. 

“ Nancy,” she said, “ I think this has been almost 
the best time of all. Picture galleries make my neck 
ache, but this has been a spread-out gallery, and just 
as beautiful as it could be. And if both of my feet 
have gone to sleep — and I think they have — I don’t 
care one single bit.” 


CHAPTER X 


ON THE HILL 

The last day was just what Haney w T ould have 
chosen it to be, and the two friends had a long, beauti- 
ful ride together. They started soon after breakfast, 
and took a basket full of good things to eat, for they 
were to have their luncheon on a hill, and not return 
till afternoon. 

“ This will be the hardest climb you have had for a 
long time, Mary Anne dear,” said Haney, as they 
turned from the road to the little wood-path which led, 
with many twists, to the top of the hill ; “ I hope you 
won’t get too tired.” 

Mary Anne tossed her head, and glanced around at 
her niece who was close beside her. 

“ I believe she wishes us to understand that she is 
young and strong enough for anything,” laughed Mar- 
guerite. 

“ She has a great deal of pride,” said Haney, “ and 
she’s always been ambitious. I like it in her.” 

“ So do I,” said Marguerite, trying to speak in the 
matter-of-fact tone which Haney always used when 
109 


no 'The Admiral's Granddaughter 

she talked of her animal friends, “ I think it’s a fine 
trait.” 

Up and up they wound, till they came out in a stony 
pasture. In the distance far down the opposite slope 
of the hill they saw some cattle, and Jessie pricked up 
her ears, as a loud “ moo ” rose on the air. 

“Now, Jessie, don’t be foolish; you’ve known those 
cows all your life,” said Nancy, reaching across to put 
her hand on the mare’s head. “You know they are 
here every autumn — Mr. Brown’s cows. Look at 
Aunt Mary Anne, Jessie ; she isn’t paying the least at- 
tention to them.” 

Jessie seemed a little ashamed, and did not turn her 
head toward the cows again, but went soberly along 
until they reached the place which Nancy had chosen 
for the picnic. It was the site of an abandoned farm ; 
the house had been burned twenty years before, and 
the people who had lived there had not courage to 
build again in that lonely spot, but chose instead to 
buy a small farm in the valley. 

“ Here’s the old cellar-hole, you see,” said Nancy, as 
the two girls dismounted and took long breaths of the 
soft autumn air ; “ and there is the orchard down be- 
yond it, and there are some splendid Porter apples, 
just what we need to finish our luncheon.” 


'The Admiral's Granddaughter in 

“ Where shall you tie Mary Anne and Jessie ? ” 
asked Marguerite. “There’s a tall tree that might 
do.” 

“Tie them,” said Nancy opening her eyes very 
wide, “why I shan’t tie them anywhere. They 
wouldn’t run away for the world, with us up here.” 

“Please don’t look so reproachful, Nancy dear,” 
laughed Marguerite ; “ I forgot how different Mary 
Anne and J essie are from other horses. Shall we feed 
them with tassel grass for their dinner ? ” 

“ Yes, for there’s plenty of it here,” said Nancy. 
“We’ll just take off the saddles so they’ll have a good 
resting time, and then I’ll show you over the place.” 

Marguerite laughed, but it proved that Nancy had 
really a good deal to show her. There were beautiful 
views — of seven little ponds in the valley, from one side 
of the farm, and of purple hills with a faint back- 
ground of distant mountains, from the other ; there 
was a sunny wall along which rioted a grape-vine 
bearing delicious grapes, just in the state to be eaten ; 
there was a natural swing formed by the long inter- 
locked branches of two apple trees ; there was a min- 
iature pine-grove with an enormous ant-hill like a small 
mountain in the middle of it ; there was an old, old 
toad which hopped out from under the door-stone when 


112 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


Nancy rattled a rusty tin pan that lay near by and 
called to him. 

“ I would never have believed there could be so 
many things to see in a deserted place like this,” said 
Marguerite thoughtfully as she munched some winter- 
green leaves while Nancy opened the luncheon basket. 

“ Oh, there are always so many more things to see 
than we have time for,” said Nancy as she spread a 
big, snowy napkin on the door-stone, which was to 
serve for a table. “ I think Aunt Sylvia gave us a 
pretty nice luncheon, Marguerite, don’t you ? ” 

“ I should call it a dinner,” said Marguerite sol- 
emnly. “ Cold chicken and cold ham and bread and 
butter and pickles and sponge cake and cookies, Nancy 
Beaumont, are what I call a dinner ; I should call it a 
Turkish dinner, on account of the way we are sit- 
ting.” 

“ Let’s twist our handkerchiefs around our heads for 
turbans,” said Nancy, “and that will make it seem 
more real.” 

So they ate their luncheon, sitting Turk fashion on 
the ground with handkerchief turbans on their heads, 
and the wrinkled old toad eyeing them wistfully from 
a respectful distance. 

“ You may be a fairy prince changed into a toad,” 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 113 

said Nancy, “ so we will give you all our crumbs and 
that will make a nice dinner for you.” 

She put the crumbs on the bottom of the inverted 
tin pan, and the fairy prince ate them with evident 
pleasure. Then Nancy and Marguerite fed Mary 
Anne and Jessie with tassel grass and other dainties, 
ending with a lump of sugar for each. 

“Just see, Jessie takes it from my hand as prettily 
as if it were yours,” said Marguerite ; “ I really think 
she’s a little bit fond of me, Nancy, don’t you ?” 

“ Of course she is,” said Nancy quickly, but as she 
rubbed and patted Mary Anne there was an uncom- 
fortable feeling in her throat and eyes. 

“ Oh, dear me, I’m afraid I’m jealous,” thought 
poor little Nancy. “I almost know I am. And 
wouldn’t you think I’d be ashamed when Marguerite 
is my intimate friend, and I have Jessie for my own 
all the time ! ” 

“ Nancy,” said Marguerite, “ don’t you think it 
would be fun for us to have rings of Mary Anne’s 
and Jessie’s hair, and wear them always till we see 
each other again, and think of each other whenever 
we look at them ? I’m sure they could each spare a 
few hairs from their tails.” 

“ Of course they could,” said Nancy eagerly, “ and 


ii4 7/^ Admiral's Granddaughter 


I have my big knife in my pocket, so I can cut them 
off very carefully ; and you must make my ring, Mar- 
guerite, and I’ll make yours.” 

It was harder work to make the rings than either of 
the little girls had thought it would be ; the long 
hairs were stiff and not easy to manage, but at last 
the rings were done, the ends tied in safe square knots, 
and trimmed close with Nancy’s knife. 

“ Now you wish mine on and I’ll wish yours on,” 
said Marguerite, “ and neither of us must know what 
the other wishes, of course. Hold out your finger, 
Nancy ; my wish is all ready.” 

Nancy held out the third finger of her left hand 
and Marguerite, with puckered brow and pursed lips, 
put it on. But Nancy was not so quick about Mar- 
guerite’s ring; she held it in her fingers and her 
breath came fast'. 

“ My finger is going to sleep,” said Marguerite, who 
had held it out stiffly, waiting for the ring, “ please 
hurry, Nancy.” 

“ I’m trying to,” said Nancy, but it was another 
minute or two before she put the ring on Marguerite’s 
finger. 

“ I hope you’d think it was a good wish,” she said 
wistfully. “ I mean it for one.” 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 115 

“ Why, of course it’s good if you made it,” said 
Marguerite, “ and oh, Nancy, look at that sun ! We’ll 
have to be going home in just a little while. I never 
saw anything like the way the time flies here.” 

That night at the tea-table the general looked at 
Nancy with a smile. 

“If ever you decide to sell that mare of yours, 
young lady, you let me know,” he said. “ Between 
leaving you and leaving Jessie it looks to me as if I 
might have a very tearful daughter on my hands.” 

“ Father, you know I wouldn’t cry,” said Marguerite 
indignantly, “ no matter how much I might wish to.” 

The general laughed. 

“We’ll see,” he said, “but I mean it, about the 
mare, Nancy. Your grandfather says she’s yours, 
and if ever you get tired of her, you let me know.” 

“Yes, sir,” said Nancy with scarlet cheeks. She 
did not dare trust herself to say another word for 
several minutes. 

“I don’t see how Marguerite can be sure she 
wouldn’t cry,” thought Nancy as she swallowed her 
biscuit and something else that was harder to manage. 
“ I guess if Jessie belonged to her it would be differ- 
ent, if she kept hearing about people that wanted her ; 
I guess maybe she wouldn’t be so sure,” 


CHAPTER XI 


A TEST FOR A BEAUMONT 

When the time for parting came next day the two 
little girls were quite brave and smiling. 

“ You are doing well,” said the general as he looked 
from one face to the other while the group stood 
waiting for the train to steam up to the Potterville 
station. “ I believe you’ve grown so tired of each 
other, you’re really glad to say good-bye,” and the 
general laughed heartily at his joke. 

“ Father,” said Marguerite, snuggling close to him 
when the train had rounded a curve, and she could 
no longer see the little white flutter that was Mar- 
guerite’s handkerchief, “ father, you know of course 
I am crazy to get home, though I’ve had such a good 
time, but Nancy will miss me dreadfully, and she is 
such a dear ! ” 

“ She’ll miss you, certainly ; ” the general pinched 
his little daughter’s cheek affectionately, “ but she’s a 
Beaumont, you must remember; she’ll stand it.” 

“ She’s part Frost, you know, father,” said Mar- 
guerite, “ and that makes a great difference.” 

“ So she — so she is,” admitted the general. “ I 
116 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 117 

hadn’t thought about that ; and the admiral’s grown 
old ; he’s dull company for a little girl most of the time. 
We must have them both for a visit this winter, or 
Nancy alone, if the admiral won’t come. Might have 
her in the holidays when her brother’s there to keep 
him company.” 

“Oh, she wouldn’t come then,” said Marguerite. 
“ She just adores her brother.” 

“I hope he may be worth it,” said the general 
dryly. “ Now look out of the window, my dear, while 
I close my eyes for a few minutes.” 

“ It’s lonely when you’ve had company and they go 
away, isn’t it, grandfather ? ” asked Nancy that even- 
ing as they sat together before the fire. It was long 
past Nancy’s usual bedtime, but she felt excited, and 
as if she would like to sit up all night. 

“Yes, child, it is lonely,” answered the admiral, 
rousing himself from a revery. “ And yet there are 
worse things than loneliness, Nancy, much worse.” 

“Yes, indeed,” said Nancy, “ you mean real troubles, 
grandfather.” 

“ Real troubles,” echoed the admiral, “ that’s it ; 
real troubles ! ” Then he turned in his chair and 
looked sharply at Nancy. 


n8 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


“What should a child like you know of real 
troubles ? ” he asked. “ Look at that clock, Nancy, 
and then kiss me good-night, and off with you to bed 
and to sleep. That’s what children can do.” 

“ Not always,” said Nancy to herself an hour or 
two later, when the house was dark and still. She 
had been asleep, but an uncomfortable dream had 
waked her. A dream in which Jessie looked at her 
with reproachful eyes, and said, “ I could help you if 
you’d let me. I know I could ! ” 

When she had tossed and turned for what seemed 
to her a long time, Nancy crept out of bed, and 
slipped on warm shoes and a thick wrapper. She was 
shivering a little, though not with cold. 

“ It must be very late,” said Nancy to herself, “ and 
grandfather has gone to bed long ago. I’ll just take 
my candle and go down-stairs for a minute. I want 
to see exactly how Jack looks, and then it will seem 
almost as if he were here.” 

Yery softly she crept down the broad stairs which 
never creaked under her light weight, her candle held 
carefully so that it would not drip. The library was 
not as dark as Nancy had expected to find it ; on a 
small table in the centre of the room flared a candle, 
like her own, and by its light she saw her grandfather 


' The Admiral's Granddaughter 119 

standing, hands clasped behind him, staring up at the 
portrait of Jack. 

She stood for a moment, uncertain what to do, and 
in that moment she heard a voice which was her 
grandfather’s and yet not like the voice she knew, it 
was so sad and tender. 

“ I’d give all I own, to you, boy,” said this sad old 
voice, “ but I can’t make money where there isn’t any. 
They cheat me of my rights, and it’s all I can do to 
keep the home. There’s the child to be thought of, 
you know, and ” 

Nancy made a quick step forward, hesitated, then 
setting her candle on the nearest chair, she ran to her 
grandfather and clasped her hands about his arm. 

“ Oh, please don’t be angry with me,” she pleaded as 
the admiral looked down at her with amazement. “I 
couldn’t sleep, grandfather, any more than you, and I 
came down just to talk to Jack a little. Won’t you 
tell me what the matter is ? ” 

With surprising gentleness the admiral put his hand 
over the little hot fingers which clutched his sleeve. 

“ You’d have to know very soon, my dear,” he said, 
“and perhaps I might as well tell you now. Your 
brother cannot have this last year at college, for there 
is no money to pay for it. He has been ” — the old 


120 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


man hesitated, and then softened his words so that 
they need bring no added trouble to the eager face 
upturned to his — “ he has been too generous in spend- 
ing his money, I presume,” the admiral finished his 
sentence. “ I have extra bills to pay, and one of my 
investments will yield no dividend this autumn. Jack 
must go into business, and earn his way now.” 

Nancy knew the Beaumont history and traditions, 
and a look of distress overspread her face. 

“ But — but every Beaumont goes through college, 
grandfather, and then takes up his profession,” she 
said anxiously. “ You’ve always told me that.” 

“Yes,” said the admiral, bitterly, “and I’ve re- 
minded your brother of it many times. He forgot that 
anything depended on him, and now the end has 
come.” 

“But can’t we get the money, any way? ’’asked 
Nancy, eagerly, and as she said the words, her dream 
flashed back to her. 

“ No,” said the admiral slowly, “ there is no way to 
get it. No way that I should consider for a moment,” 
he added louder, as if to strengthen himself against 
temptation. 

Nancy’s fingers loosened their clasp of his sleeve, 
and she stepped back ; her face was pale with a sud- 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 121 

den resolve, but her eyes were shining, and for a mo- 
ment they drew her grandfather’s gaze and held it. 

“ I will sell Jessie,” she said firmly. “You said 
she was mine, grandfather, you told the general so. 
And I will ask him if when Jack has earned a great 
deal of money, we may buy Jessie back again. She 
would be pretty old, perhaps, but I should love her 
just as much.” 

“ No,” thundered the admiral. “ I tell you, I won’t 
have you do it, child ! The boy has taken no thought 
of us, in his selfishness. Let him work his way 
now.” 

Once more the hot fingers clutched his sleeve. 

“ Grandfather,” said Nancy, and it seemed to him 
that for once the Beaumont eyes shone out from the 
little Frost face, “you know Jack is all we have for 
our family, you and I. Jessie is a darling, but you 
know we could neither of us bear to look at her, and 
think we put her before Jack. He mustn’t know she 
is to be sold, for he’d never let me do it, grandfather. 
And when he does know it, why he’ll work so hard 
with his studies, grandfather — you know he will ! I 
will write General Compton to-morrow morning, the 
very first thing. So now it’s all settled, isn’t it ? 
Why, I’m so proud to think I can help Jack.” 


122 T’he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


She unclasped her hands, and moved a little distance 
away from the admiral. 

“ Please say it is all settled, grandfather,” begged 
Nancy, and it seemed to the old man who stood look- 
ing at her, as if she had grown suddenly taller and 
graver. 

The admiral lifted his hand to his head in a long 
unused gesture of respect. 

“ My dear,” he said, “ I am not sure that Fm doing 
right. I think in all probability, I am doing wrong, 
but I cannot find it in my heart to deny you. I only 
hope your brother may be worthy of his sister, some 
day. Now will you go to bed again, to please an old 
man ? ” 

Nancy ran to him, and he stooped so that she could 
put her arms around his neck. 

“ Oh, thank you, grandfather,” she said earnestly ; 
“ thank you for letting me help ; of course I know 
Jack is worthy of anybody, just as you do. He’s only 
too generous, as you said. And — shall you go to bed 
pretty soon, to please a little girl ? ” 

“ Soon, very soon,” said the admiral ; but it was 
more than an hour after Nancy left him that he 
slowly and painfully ascended the stairs, and went to 
his room to lie awake till morning. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 123 

“It isn’t right,” he muttered, as the first streak of 
light found its way through his window-pane; “it 
isn’t right, but it may be the making of Jack. It 

may turn the boy into a man. It may ” 

And at last the admiral fell asleep. 


CHAPTER XII 


AN UNWELCOME CALLER 

When Nancy woke next morning, she could not 
think, for a moment, what trouble it was that lay 
heavily underneath her pleasure in the bright leaves 
and the strip of sky she could see from her bed. 
Then, all at once, it came back to her, and she caught 
her breath. 

“ I mustn’t think about it,” she said, as she jumped 
out of bed, “ I must just do it, as fast as I can. Then, 
when it’s all done, and I’m back here, I shall cry — 
perhaps I shall cry a good deal ; ’twouldn’t surprise 
me a bit if I did,” and Nancy began to brush her curls 
with great energy. “ But it won’t make a bit of dif- 
ference if I do, as long as I’m Beaumonty till Jessie is 
safe in her new home.” 

At the breakfast table Nancy broached the subject 
as boldly as she could. By daylight the admiral 
looked older and more feeble even than the night 
before. 

“ You know, grandfather,” she began, as she looked 
124 


' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 125 

across the table with a bright smile, “ of course I shall 
have to go with Jessie, because she’d be so frightened 
alone, and I wondered if you could spare Aunt Sylvia 
to go with me. We’ll have to go in the freight car 
with Jessie, you see. I shall have to get permission, 
the way Jack did once. I feel pretty important, 
grandfather.” 

The admiral set down the cup of coffee which 
Nancy had been making for him, as she talked, and 
stared at her in silence for a moment. 

“ You seem to have made your plans over night in 
a remarkable way,” he said sternly, and then his face 
relaxed. “You had to make them, poor child,” he 
added. “ You knew a decrepit old man need not be 
taken into consideration at a time like this. But sup- 
pose the general has changed his mind ? ” 

Nancy shook her curls vigorously. 

“ He told me he would give me one thousand dol- 
lars for Jessie any time within the next six months,” 
she said, bringing out the words with much emphasis. 
“ He told me that in private, grandfather, because he 
said sometimes money was more necessary than a 
horse. I didn’t think it could be true, grandfather, 
ever, but now it is. But when you speak about 
decrepit old men, Admiral Beaumont, I do not know 


126 "The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


any,” and Nancy made her face so solemn and disap- 
proving that in spite of himself the admiral laughed. 

“ Ah well,” he said a moment later, with a sigh, 
“ write your letter, child, and send it off this morning. 
We — we have not much time to lose if the money is to 
serve its purpose.” 

The writing of that letter took Nancy a long time, 
though it was but a short letter when finished. First 
Nancy read it aloud to herself, and then she gave it to 
the admiral to read to himself. 

“Now play you are General Compton, grand- 
father,” she warned him, as he began to read, “and 
that I’m not your grandchild, and you can’t see my 
fingers all covered with ink, or the desk spread with 
the pieces of paper I’ve practiced my letter on — please 
be very lenient, grandfather.” 


“ Dear General Compton,” read the admiral, “ I have 
found out that we need that money ever so much more 
than we need Jessie, though of course money is not 
generally nearly as nice as a horse. But if you would 
like to buy Jessie, I should like to sell her, right away, 
and I would take her in the freight car myself, so she 
wouldn’t be frightened or lonely. And some day, 
when my brother Jack is rich, if you would please let 
us buy back Jessie, so she could end her days in her 
old home as a horse would love to do. If it would not 
be too much trouble, will you write me just as soon as 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 127 

you can, so I can start ? And perhaps I seem chang- 
ing, but it is circumstances. With love to Marguerite. 

“ Respectfully and affectionately, 

“ Nancy Beaumont.” 

When the admiral had finished his slow reading of 
the letter, he looked across at Nancy with one of his 
rare and gentle smiles, then sat in silence, tapping the 
arm of his chair with his glasses. 

“ I was afraid perhaps it was not right, after all,” 
ventured Nancy, encouraged by the smile; she had 
watched her grandfather’s face with eagerness while 
he read. 

“ It is a good letter — as it had to be written,” an- 
swered the admiral, slowly. “ It would have pleased 
your grandmother, I feel sure. For a child of your 
age — it is simple and to the point, and it is not with- 
out dignity,” the admiral ended, while Nancy flushed 
with pride. 

“ Then I’ll direct the envelope and seal it this min- 
ute,” and she ran once more to the old writing desk at 
which she had sat so long, and inscribed the address 
in her most careful handwriting. 

Half an hour later she was on her way to Potter- 
ville with Sylvanus. 

“Isn’t it pretty soon for you to be writing the 


128 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


general ? ” inquired Mr. Pearson, weighing in his hand 
the letter Nancy had just passed under the little slats 
of his window. “ Did they forget something ? It’s 
customary for the folks that have been visiting to 
write first, they tell me.” 

“ It was necessary for me to write,” said Nancy, re- 
peating the formula with which the admiral had pro- 
vided her for such occasions. “ It’s a pleasant day, 
isn’t it, Mr. Pearson ? ” 

The postmaster gazed searchingly at her through 
the slats for a moment. 

“ It is, for those that have time to look at it,” he 
replied briefly. “ I suppose you’ll be expecting the 
answer to this by to-morrow or next day ? ” 

“ I hope so,” admitted Nancy, and then she hurried 
out of the post-office without giving Mr. Pearson a 
chance to ask any more questions, leaving him with an 
injured expression on his large, moon-shaped face. 

It would have been hard to say whether Nancy or 
the admiral was in the greater state of excitement for 
the next twenty-four hours. They both spent a good 
deal of time looking out of the windows, and very lit- 
tle in sleep. 

“We don’t seem to care much for our tea, grand- 
father, do we?” asked Nancy the next afternoon. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 129 

“ Does it sound to you as if you heard hoofs coming 
up the lane ? Of course there couldn’t be — but ” 

Without doubt there was a sound of hoofs, and the 
rattle of a light wagon, as well. Nancy hurried to 
the window, and looked out into the dusk. 

“ Why, it looks like Mr. Pearson’s old open buggy, 
grandfather,” she exclaimed, “ and the Pearsons’ old 
mare, too. I didn’t think she could climb as much of 
a hill nowadays ; she’s a great deal older than Mary 
Anne. Oh, grandfather, it is Mr. Pearson himself, get- 
ting out of the buggy ! Shall I ” 

“ You may go to the door, Nancy ; ” the admiral’s 
voice shook a little as he spoke. “ I think I saw a 
yellow envelope in his hand.” 

Nancy needed no second bidding, for she had flown 
to the door before the admiral finished his sen- 
tence. 

“ I’ll step inside,” said Mr. Pearson as the door was 
opened, removing his hat with an air of much dignity. 
“ There’s a matter here you will wish to attend to at 
once. I left all business to come up here ; the tele- 
gram arrived just after Sylvanus had left with the 
mail. I presume you can explain it, but it’s blind to 
me, as yet.” 

“ Will you take a seat, Mr. Pearson,” quavered 


130 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


Nancy as she took the yellow envelope in her hot 
fingers, and turned toward the library. 

“ I’ll step in here for a few words with the admiral,” 
said Mr. Pearson, following close at Nancy’s heels, and 
advancing with outstretched hand to his unwilling 
host. “ It isn’t often I get as far as this, and you’ll 
be glad to hear some o’ the town news, most likely,” 
he said, shaking the admiral’s hand with great vigor. 
“ I set all aside to come right up with that telegram. 
Cool weather, isn’t it ? ” and Mr. Pearson dropped 
into the nearest chair and looked calmly from the ad- 
miral to Nancy, and back again to the admiral who 
was torn between the rules of hospitality and a desire 
to rid himself of this inquisitive messenger. 

“ You might as well read your telegram, Nancy,” 
he said as calmly as he could under the circumstances. 
“ Mr. Pearson doubtless wishes to know if there is to 
be an answer.” 

“ That was my idea in coming up,” and the post- 
master settled himself more comfortably in his chair. 
“ But don’t you feel hurried ; take your time to think 
it over, and talk it over. Don’t mind me ; I’ve put 
the Holland boy in charge of the office, and he’ll do 
all right, as there’s nothing for him to do. And as 
for talking before me, a postmaster gets to know most 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 131 

everything there is in a town ; there aren’t any real 
secrets from him,” said Mr. Pearson with a cheerful 
smile. 

“ We will step across into the parlor, Nancy,” said 
the admiral with a sudden determination, “if our 
guest will pardon us for a few moments, and make 
himself comfortable.” 

“ Well, I swan, that’s cool ! ” muttered Mr. Pearson 
as he looked after the two figures. “ Furniture cov- 
erings are worn pretty thin here an’ there — most 
everywhere in fact,” he added. “ Things look pretty 
shabby here for all their high an’ mighty ways. But 
I presume they don’t mean any harm,” and turning in 
his chair, he strained his ears in the hope of catching 
some stray remark from the room across the hall. 

“ Read it, child,” the admiral commanded. “ Tell 
me what it says.” 

“ 4 Deliver goods at earliest convenience, ’ ” read 
Nancy in a breathless voice. 44 4 Wire me at time of 
starting.’ Oh grandfather, it’s all right, you see! 
Aren’t you glad ? ” 

44 I’m not sure whether it’s all right or not,” said the 
admiral, smoothing the yellow slip in his thin hands 
and looking down at Nancy as if he were assailed by 
sudden doubt of her ability to carry out her plans ; 


132 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ but — yes, child, I’m glad, whether or no ; I can’t 
help being glad.” 

“ I can’t, either,” said Nancy with dancing eyes. 
Then she stood on tiptoe to reach her grandfather’s 
ear. 

“ What shall we tell Mr. Pearson ? ” she whispered. 
“ We’ll have to tell him something, of course.” 

“ I suppose we must,” and the admiral looked so 
helpless and yet indignant that Nancy almost 
laughed. 

“ Shall I just say that we thank him very much for 
bringing the telegram, and that I shall send the an- 
swer as soon as possible ? ” suggested Nancy. 

The admiral pondered for a moment and then shook 
his head. 

“That won’t satisfy him,” he said slowly, “and 
he’ll know all about it within a day or two, at the 
latest. I think, my dear, it would be better to tell 
him the whole truth — not necessarily the reasons for 
what you are going to do.” 

“ That would be easiest,” and Nancy gave a little 
sigh of relief. “ Shall we go now, grandfather ? ” 

They found Mr. Pearson seated on the edge of his 
chair, with his eyes apparently fastened on the 
darkening landscape to be seen through the nearest 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 133 

window, but he had the air of one who has sat down 
in great haste. 

“Mr. Pearson,” Nancy began in as calm a tone as 
she could manage to get, “ the telegram you so kindly 
brought us is about Jessie, our, my mare — I — we — 
grandfather is allowing me to sell her to General 
Compton, because we — I — wish the money for some- 
thing else.” 

Mr. Pearson rose to his feet with a spring. 

“ That’s a good move as ever you folks made,” he 
said with great cordiality. “ There you’ve been rid- 
ing round on that skittish critter for the last three 
years, an’ the most of Potterville has had its heart 
right up in its mouth seeing you. She’ll bring a fair 
price, I dare say ” — Mr. Pearson made an inquiring 
pause, but no one filled it, so he continued, “ she’ll 
bring a fair price no doubt, and they’ll have her 
tamed down by those autymobiles and what-all, in 
no time, whilst you’ll have that money for a nest egg 
to put in the bank, and travel off visiting with, when- 
ever you like. I call it a good move.” 

There was no response except a faint smile from 
Nancy. It was quite evident that the admiral felt it 
was now time for the visitor to depart ; but Mr. Pear- 
son had thought of another question. 


134 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ How are you intending to send the mare ? ” he 
inquired, standing with his hand holding the top 
buttonhole of his coat, ready to receive the corre- 
sponding button. “ Freight, I suppose. She’ll be 
scared, I reckon.” 

“ I am going with her,” said Nancy quietly ; “ and 
Aunt Sylvia is going with me. I shall go to Potter- 
ville to-morrow to see about it.” 

“ For the land’s sake ! ” cried Mr. Pearson, loosing 
the buttonhole in his surprise. “I know your brother 
did that once ; but do you realize you’re only a little 
girl, and you’ve got to be shut up in a place ’most as 
black as the hole of Calcutty, and perhaps get side- 
tracked an’ shunted off an’ ” 

The admiral’s voice broke in on this harangue, with 
chilly dignity. 

“ My granddaughter is a Beaumont,” he said with 
his stern glance bent on the excited postmaster. 
“ She has no reason to fear the dark, or slight delays 
on her journey.” 

Mr. Pearson’s mouth opened wide, then closed with 
a snap, then opened again. 

“ Well — I — I’ll bid you good-day,” he said with sur- 
prising meekness, “ and I hope it’ll turn out all right 
for the little girl ; for she is a little girl, and that’s all 


c The Admiral' s Granddaughter 135 

she is ! ” he added turning a gaze of much disapproval 
on the admiral; and without another word he de- 
parted, reaching the outer door before Nancy, and 
opening and closing it with considerable vigor. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE BARN AT NIGHT 

“I think he wasn’t very pleased, grandfather,” 
said Haney when the sound of wheels and hoofs had 
died away, “but he’ll have a splendid time telling 
everybody the news, and perhaps guessing at a little 
more to go with it.” 

“ I could see that,” and the admiral indulged in a 
grim smile ; “ you will probably know a good deal 
more about your own plans by the time you get to 
Potterville station to-morrow morning than you do 
when you start.” 

There fell a silence, as the old man and the little 
girl sat looking into the fire. The admiral’s mind 
wandered into the past, he forgot his present troubles 
and anxieties, even forgot Haney sitting so quietly 
beside him. At last she stirred, with a sound that 
brought her grandfather quickly back to the present. 

“ I want to go up-stairs and tell Aunt Sylvia that 
it is all settled, because she only half knows about 
it,” Haney’s soft voice had a curiously strained sound 
to the admiral’s ears, “ and then I am going out to 
Jessie to explain everything to her.” 

136 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 137 

The admiral had never been blessed with a vivid 
imagination, but there was something about Nancy’s 
earnestness and firm belief in the understanding of her 
dumb friends that always impressed him, in spite of 
himself. As he had admitted several times to General 
Compton he could not prove that Nancy’s ideas were 
mistaken ; and proof was what the admiral’s sense of 
justice always demanded. Now, after a short, be- 
wildered glance at the eager little face, he returned to 
his study of the fire. 

“Very well, child,” he said wearily. “ Do as you 
like.” 

Aunt Sylvia was in the sewing-room, rocking, with 
folded hands, without so much as the glimmer of a 
candle. She was crooning a lullaby as she rocked, 
and Nancy ran to her and flung herself into the old 
arms that had never failed her. 

“It’s — it’s all right, Aunt Sylvia, we are going — 
you and I and Jessie,” whispered Nancy. “ Probably 
day after to-morrow.” 

“ So be it ; ” Aunt Sylvia’s voice had a solemn 
sound, as she looked through the darkness over the 
head of her lamb, held tightly to her breast. “ De 
sooner de better, long as we’s gwine to go, honey. 
I’ll hab to get out yo’ furs, I reckon. It’ll be mighty 


138 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


cold in dat car, supposing de wind comes up like it 
gen’lly does to’d night. We’ll be in de car all night, 
won’t we ? ” 

“ Yes, Aunt Sylvia, all afternoon, and all night, and 
a little piece of next morning,” Nancy announced 
bravely. “ But there’ll be three of us together and 
we can take some candles. Grandfather says he is 
sure we may have candles.” 

“ Bress de Lawd ! ” said Aunt Sylvia. “ An’ I don’t 
s’pose dere’ll be any mices prowling round in dat car ; 
dat’s one good t’ing.” 

Nancy laughed gayly. Aunt Sylvia’s fear of mice 
Was something she had never shared. 

“ I’ll make sure there isn’t even the least bit of a 
mouse that ever lived, before we start;” she gave 
Aunt Sylvia a good hug to emphasize her words. 
“ I’m sure Jessie would not like mice when she’s 
traveling, for Sylvanus says she is as nervous as a 
witch sometimes if she hears one in the barn. So I 
shall look out for both of you.” 

Aunt Sylvia rocked back and forth silently for a 
moment, and then brought the chair to a sudden 
stand. 

“ If dat boy don’ ’predate what my lamb’s doing 
for him, it’s de las’ word Aunt Sylvy ’ll ebber speak 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 139 

to him ! ” she said fiercely, and would have said much 
more but for the soft little fingers laid over her lips. 

“You guessed it was for Jack, Aunt Sylvy,” whis- 
pered Nancy. “ You are right — but aren’t we so lucky 
to have Jack to do things for ? even if they are pretty 
hard things, or would be, if you stopped to think 
about them.” 

Aunt Sylvia’s withered hand drew the soft fingers 
gently but firmly from her lips and held them. 

“ Aunt Sylvy loves dat boy,” she said, “ more’n 
tongue can tell, but t’ings has come too easy to him, 
all his life ; ’pears like he’s mighty near being spoiled, 
dat boy is. An’ you — what’s gwine take de place ob 
Jessie when my lamb comes back home, an’ dat mare 
is way off down in de city ? He better spend some o’ 
his spare time t’inking ob dat ! ” 

“ Oh, but, Aunt Sylvia,” Nancy spoke in great ex- 
citement, “ Jack isn’t to know where the money comes 
from until after it’s all over, probably not till he 
comes home for Christmas ; he’d never let me do it, if 
he knew. He’s so generous ! ” 

“ M-m,” Aunt Sylvia muttered under her breath, 
but as Nancy gave her a little loving shake, her face 
softened. 

“Dat’s de truf,” she admitted. “He’s generous, 


140 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


dat boy, only he’s pow’ful thoughtless. Maybe dis 
will be de making ob him ; maybe ’twill.” 

Nancy lay quietly for a few minutes with her head 
on Aunt Sylvia’s shoulder and the old hands smooth- 
ing her bright hair ; then she straightened herself with 
a little sigh. 

“Now I must go out to explain everything to Jes- 
sie,” she said with a little catch in her voice which 
made Aunt Sylvia mutter again. “ Would you like to 
go with me, Aunt Sylvia ? I will take the big lan- 
tern, and that would scare away the mice if there 
should happen to be any in the barn.” 

“ Somet’ing bigger dan mices in dat barn nights,” 
said Aunt Sylvia darkly ; “ somet’ing wid longer tails 
an’ bigger whiskers dan any mices got. Dat Julia 
Frost she don’ half do her work, anyway ; ” but even 
as she spoke, Aunt Sylvia rose, and taking a knitted 
scarf from the table, began to wind it about her head 
and shoulders. 

A few minutes later two figures with a swaying lan- 
tern between them entered the barn, having rolled the 
big door just far enough open to admit them. The 
three horses moved in their stalls ; Mary Anne and 
Jessie gave whinnies of pleasure, while Ezra regarded 
the visitors with a calm but hospitable gaze. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 141 

“ I’ll sit hyar on dis milking stool,” said Aunt Sylvia, 
drawing her chosen seat well into the middle of the 
barn floor, and setting the lantern beside it ; “ den I 
can keep watch o’ what’s running round,” and she sat 
down, tucking her skirt tightly about her and holding 
her feet up from the floor. 

“ Oh, Aunt Sylvia, you’ll get the cramp, sitting that 
way ! ” cried Nancy merrily, but her old nurse shook 
her finger in pretended wrath. 

“You go right along an’ do yo’ explaining talk,” 
she commanded, “ an’ if I get de cramp, dat ’ll be my 
lookout.” 

She turned her back on the horses and began to sing. 
Nancy caught her breath and went into Jessie’s stall. 
The mare put her head down lovingly, and Nancy 
stroked it with her soft hand for a little while before 
she spoke. 

u Jessie,” she whispered at last, her mouth close to 
the mare’s sensitive ear, “ we have to be very, very 
brave and Beaumonty now, you and I, for probably 
day after to-morrow we shall take a journey and then 
at the end of it we must say good-bye to each other 
for a long, long time.” 

Jessie’s ear quivered; she did not really enjoy 
whispers, but for the sake of her little mistress she 


142 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


bore them as quietly as possible, particularly when 
the fingers whose touch she loved so well were strok- 
ing her satin skin. 

“You will be Marguerite’s, not mine, any longer,” 
the whisper went on, “ so it will not be as if you went 
to a stranger, Jessie ; of course I couldn’t have let you 
do that.” 

“ ‘ Roll, Jordan, roll ! ’ ” sang Aunt Sylvia in a loud, 
clear tone. “ ‘ Roll, Jordan, roll ! ’ Beats ebery t’ing 
how my voice comes back to me when I get in a big 
high place like dis barn. Seems as if I had de same 
strength I had in de ole camp-meeting times. You jess 
turn yo’ head back whar it b’longs, Ezra, an’ don’ you 
keep yo’ ears working like dat. ‘Roll, Jordan, 
roll ! ’ ” 

The whispering had gone steadily on while Aunt 
Sylvia talked and sang. Just how much of what was 
said to Jessie, the mare understood, no one will ever 
know, but Nancy felt sure that she understood it all, 
and the little girl was greatly comforted by her talk. 

“ You must keep well, Jessie,” she said at last, “ so 
you’ll live to be very, very old ; for then we can be 
together again when Jack has made a great deal of 
money and can buy you back. Perhaps my hair will 
be all gray — I don’t know how old people have to be 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 143 

before their hair turns gray — but we shall love each 
other just as dearly as ever, shan’t we ? Now good- 
night, dear ! ” 

Nancy stopped for a word with Mary Anne, as 
“ Roll, Jordan, roll ! ” came to a triumphant close. 

“You’ll have to think of what a great help you’re 
being to the family, through your niece, Mary Anne,” 
said Nancy gravely ; “ and I hope it will be a comfort 
to you to remember that, when she’s gone. And I 
shall be twice as fond of you as ever, because you are 
making a sacrifice.” 

Mary Anne looked attentive, but a little sleepy. 
Nancy turned from her to Ezra who was regarding 
her with a watchful eye. 

“ You’ll be the one to take us down to the Potter- 
ville station to-morrow, Ezra,” said Nancy softly. 
“We have to make all the arrangements about the 
journey, and I shouldn’t want Jessie to hear things 
talked over ; it might make her nervous, and then it 
would be harder than ever to travel.” 

“ ’Bout time my lamb was ready to go back to de 
house,” suggested Aunt Sylvia as Nancy stood for a 
moment in the middle of the barn floor as if she did 
not know where to go. “ Getting pretty cold in dis 
barn, honey.” 


144 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


“ I’m ready,” said Nancy quickly. “ Let’s go this 
minute, Aunt Sylvia,” and she tugged at the big door 
until it rolled far enough back to allow Aunt Sylvia’s 
ample figure to squeeze through. 

Once outside, with the door shut again, Nancy 
clasped her little hands around Aunt Sylvia’s arm 
and pressed close to her as they hurried back to the 
house. 

“ Now I’ve really told Jessie, it won’t be so hard,” 
said Nancy. “The hardest part of my good-bye is 
over, Aunt Sylvia ; you can see that, can’t you ? You 
don’t think it’ll be any worse when I leave her with 
Marguerite, do you, Aunt Sylvia? Please say it 
won’t ! ” 

“ My little lamb,” Aunt Sylvia’s voice was low and 
gentle, as she patted the soft hands clasped on her 
arm, “ it’s de beginnings ob t’ings dat’s most always de 
hardest, an’ you done finish de beginning out in de 
barn. I reckon dere’s good coming out o’ dis some 
way, an’ meanwhile what you an’ Aunt Sylvy’s got to 
do is to get rested up an’ quieted down for what’s 
befo’ us in de way ob journeyings. Now you mind 
what I say, an’ don’t let me hear o’ you staying 
awake half de night, planning for to-morrow ; to-mor- 
row come soon enough, anyway.” 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 145 

“ I’m sure I shall sleep,” said Nancy, as they sep- 
arated in the hall. “ I’m so tired, Aunt Sylvia.” 

“ I’ll come tuck you in an’ sing you off de way I 
used to when you were a mite ob a chile,” announced 
Aunt Sylvia with decision. “ Den I’ll know dere’s no 
foolishness going on.” 

She kept her word, and two hours later she rocked 
slower and slower in Nancy’s room. 

“ ‘ Blow, li’l’ breezes, blow,’ ” she sang, under her 
breath at last. The rocking stopped for a moment, 
began again slowly, and then stopped for good. 

“ I’s done one good piece ob work,” said Aunt 
Sylvia, when she had reached the hall in safety with- 
out waking her lamb, “ an’ now I’s gwine to rub lini- 
ment on all de j’ints in dis pore rheumaticky ole body 
o’ mine, an’ get limbered up for de journeying dat’s 
coming to me.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


PLANS FOR THE JOURNEY 

When Nancy reached the Potter ville station the 
next morning it was plainly to be seen that Mr. Pear- 
son had made the most of the time given him to 
spread his news. Nancy had never seen so many 
people at the little station before, and although they 
all apparently had errands which took them there, it 
was evident that her arrival was no surprise. 

“ I somewhat expected to see you to-day, Miss 
Nancy,” said Mr. Lord, the station agent, shaking 
hands with her most cordially, over a baggage truck. 
“ Mr. Pearson happened to mention that you were 
likely to come, when he was down this morning to get 
one of the new time-tables.” 

Nancy smiled, and stepping around the truck to her 
side, Mr. Lord continued in a lower tone : 

“ I had occasion to wire the freight agent on a little 
matter of business an hour or so ago, before most of 
these folks got here, and I mentioned to him that 
there might be a young lady who’d want a permit to 
go in a freight car to-morrow, along with a horse, and 
146 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 147 

he said, 4 Go ahead, Bill, it’ll be all right,’ and he’s to 
send a kind of a pass he makes out, down by to-night’s 
mail, so it’ll be all ready for you.” 

44 You’re just as kind as you can be, Mr. Lord,” said 
Nancy, heartily. 44 1 suppose Mr. Pearson told you.” 

44 1 guess about all he knew leaked out,” and the 
station-master smiled broadly. 44 Bartley isn’t one to 
hoard up anything that’s come to him — but he means 
well, and this morning it came out all the- better for 
you, for I can’t always connect with the freight agent 
in a hurry, he roves around so ; I’m not criticising 
him, only it does try my temper when I can’t get hold 
of him. Want to see the car you’ll go in ? standing 
right over there, ’tis.” 

He pointed to a car which stood on the short side 
track, and turning to look at it, Nancy saw that Mrs. 
Potter and several other women were standing near, 
and gazing at it as if they had never seen a freight 
car before. 

44 1 suppose perhaps I’d better,” said Nancy, after a 
minute’s hesitation, and she followed Mr. Lord across 
the tracks to the car. 

44 This is good news,” said Mrs. Potter eagerly, as 
Nancy reached her side ; 44 1 declare I shall breathe a 
good deal freer when I know you won’t go cantering 


148 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


over the country any more, but will be safe and sound 
on the seat of a carriage when you aren’t on your two 
feet ! If only the mare doesn’t trample you to death 
on the way down. Oh don’t look like that, child, I’ve 
no doubt she’s fond of you in her way, but that isn’t 
going to keep her from getting scared.” 

Nancy’s color was high, but she was careful to an- 
swer Mrs. Potter quietly. 

“ I shall try not to let her be frightened,” she said. 
“ I shall stay close to her.” 

“ There, you step in here,” said Mr. Lord, who had 
opened the car and jumped up into it, holding down 
his hands to Nancy. “ I guess you’d better not try 
it,” he added to Mrs. Potter, who was preparing to 
follow; “you’re kind of hefty and I haven’t any- 
thing to brace against, and if I let you go you’d get 
an awful scraping on your knee-pans if ’twasn’t any- 
thing worse. I’m going to roll the door shut now, 
and let Miss Nancy see how it’ll be to-morrow.” 

The last words were scarcely off his lips before the 
car was closed, and Mrs. Potter and her friends were 
left staring indignantly and open-mouthed at the 
black letters and figures which announced the ca- 
pacity of the car. 

“ You’ve got to draw the line somewhere,” said Mr. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 149 

Lord with decision, “ and beside that there was a little 
something I had here I wanted to show you, and have 
the fun of it by myself, even Bartley Pearson isn’t 
knowing to this contrivance. I’ve only had it,” and 
the station master was clicking something he had 
taken from his pocket, “ I’ve only had it about two 
days ; came from my cousin in New York. Now how 
does that strike you ? ” 

“ Oh, how cunning ! ” cried Nancy. “ It’s a little 
electric light, isn’t it, Mr. Lord, and yet it’s like a 
candle.” 

“ The wonders of electricity are more and more be- 
yond me,” said the station master solemnly, “ but this 
seems to be the complete thing for you to take with 
you to-morrow, and you’re a-going to take it. Now I 
don’t want any ifs, ands, or buts,” as Nancy tried to 
speak ; “ there won’t a thing happen to it, and I’ll be 
proud to have you take it. Burns or glows or what- 
ever you call it more’n long enough to last you ; and 
then if you felt disposed to have the general fill her 
up again, he’d know where it could be done, so I’d 
have it just to show off to the neighbors a little. No- 
body’s seen it yet, for I was waiting for my wife to 
come home ; but she’ll agree with me this was a good 
opportunity.” 


150 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


Nancy looked from the little, softly glowing light 
to the kind, eager face of the station master, and back 
to the light ; then she put her hand to her throat with 
a gesture which Aunt Sylvia had learned to know, but 
which neither the admiral nor Jack had ever seen. 

“ You are so good it hurts me, here,” said Nancy 
simply, and she held out her hand to Mr. Lord who 
shook it and then held it cautiously as if it were some- 
thing precious. 

“Well, well,” he said. “If my little girl had lived, 
she’d have liked that candle, I guess, if she’d been 
starting off, same as you are ; that’s all there is about 
it. Now I’ll open up the car, soon as I’ve put that 
little contrivance out o’ sight, so’s to surprise ’em to- 
morrow. I expect they’ve borne about all they can, 
by this time. You can give them a sight of it to- 
morrow, when you start, if you’re willing. My wife’s 
coming home to-night.” 

“ I hope there’ll be a good many of my friends here 
to see me off,” said Nancy as Mr. Lord began to roll 
the door; she suddenly felt that they were all her 
friends, these kind, warm-hearted, curious people of 
whom the admiral was so intolerant. “ It will make 
me happy to have them,” she added. 

Mr. Lord patted her on the shoulder. 


! The Admiral' s Granddaughter 151 

“ That’s the way I like to hear you talk,” he said. 
4 The folks here think you’ve been brought up to sort 
of stand off from them, but I tell them ’tisn’t so ; the 
admiral’s an old man now, and life’s been hard to 
him ; ’tisn’t to be expected he’d neighbor with every- 
body ; but you’ve got all before you. Take my ad- 
vice and make friends wherever you are ; take the 
best of everybody, and let the rest go ; that’s the way 
you’ll have to do with me,” and he smiled with real 
affection at Nancy as he landed her safely on the 
ground. 

“ I hope you’ll come to see me off to-morrow, Mrs. 
Potter,” said Nancy to that energetic woman who 
had retreated to the platform but kept her gaze fas- 
tened on the freight car. “ Mr. Lord had a surprise 
for me — something to make my journey pleasant — 
and Mrs. Lord will show it to you to-morrow — to all 
of you,” she added, smiling shyly at the rest of the 
group, some of whom she knew only by sight. 

“We’ll be pleased to come,” and Mrs. Potter’s face 
took on a much pleasanter expression. “ Let’s see, 
what time does your train go ? I don’t know as I’ve 
ever had anybody I was acquainted with travel by 
freight before.” 

“ Her train will be coming through about half-past 


152 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


two,” announced Mr. Lord, “and she’ll have to be in 
the car, all shut up, ready to be coupled on to the rest, 
before that time. I should say, get here pretty soon 
after two,” he counseled Nancy, who promised to 
do so. 

“ I hope you’ll have good weather,” called Mrs. 
Potter as Nancy said good-bye and started toward the 
carriage in which Sylvanus sat impatiently awaiting 
her ; “ that car looks as if it might let in considerable 
wet.” 

“No such thing ; ” Mr. Lord’s tone was quite in- 
dignant. “It’s tight as a drum,” he called after 
Nancy, who smiled confidently back at him over her 
shoulder. 

“Well, Miss Nancy,” ventured Sylvanus, as he 
guided Ezra through the town traffic, when the sta- 
tion was left far behind, “ I suppose the arrangements 
for your journey are all conclusively accomplished 
now.” 

“ I suppose they are, Sylvanus,” and Nancy had 
grown so sober that she scarcely smiled at the darky’s 
high-sounding speech. “ I’m tired, Sylvanus,” she 
said a moment later ; “ do you think perhaps Ezra 
could go a little faster ? ” 


CHAPTER XV 

THE ADMIRAL SAYS “ GOOD-BYE ” 

It was still dark the next morning when Nancy 
awoke, but as she lay in bed she heard some one 
stirring in the hall, and muttering. 

“ Poor Aunt Sylvia is up already,” thought Nancy, 
“ she’ll be so tired before night ! I wonder what she 
is doing.” 

“ I jess take a look at dis whole house befo’ any- 
body else is up,” muttered Aunt Sylvia, who with 
a candle in her hand was making a circuit of the 
rambling old mansion, clad in a wonderful red and 
yellow plaid wrapper. “ Nobody but de Lord knows 
if I’ll ever see it again. When folks starts a travel- 
ing, dere’s no way ob telling if dey’ll come back to 
where dey went from. Oh, dear, dear ! ” 

Nancy could not hear the words of Aunt Sylvia’s 
plaint as the old woman went along, softly opening 
doors and peering into unoccupied rooms, but she 
knew there was no joy in Aunt Sylvia’s heart over 
the journey. 

“ But she’ll like to tell about it, afterward,” Nancy 
153 


154 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


comforted herself ; “ it will give her pleasure that way, 
even if she does get frightened.’’ 

There was no more sleep for Nancy ; she got up 
and dressed herself as soon as there was light enough 
for her to see. Then there was nothing to do until 
breakfast time which was still a long way off. She 
looked out of her window with eyes that had an un- 
comfortable way of growing a little moist and dim so 
that the trees in the early morning light seemed to 
waver and shift in their places. 

“ I must not cry now,” Nancy told herself severely. 
“ I’ll — let me think what I’ll do. I will go down- 
stairs and find Julia Frost, and cuddle her for awhile. 
And, Oh, I know ! I’ll write a letter to grandfather 
to have at his plate to-morrow morning at breakfast, 
when he’ll be all alone, and I think most probably he 
will miss me.” 

She tiptoed down-stairs and fortunately found the 
cat seated on the big rug in the hall, washing her 
face. She stopped her work and looked up at Nancy 
with a soft “ miaow ” of satisfaction, as the little girl 
stooped to her. 

“Oh, Julia Frost, you are a real comfort when I don’t 
feel Beaumonty ! ” said Nancy, gathering the cat into 
her arms, and putting her face down against the furry 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 155 

head. “ If I could, I’d love to take you on the journey 
with us, for you would be so cuddley at night ! But 
I can’t take you, Julia, so you must not get shut into 
anything while I am away, for they might not hunt 
for you, the way I do.” 

Julia purred loudly and settled her claws firmly 
on Nancy’s shoulder. 

“ This is indeed pleasant,” she seemed to be saying, 
“ and so unexpected at this hour in the morning ! ” 

She sat quietly in Nancy’s lap while the letter was 
written, and then she condescended to play with an 
empty spool dangled at the end of a thread. Nancy 
thought of a number of games which she and Julia 
had enjoyed in times past, and it seemed a good op- 
portunity to try them all. She had not Aunt Sylvia’s 
fear of accidents, but she had a queer feeling that she 
might be away for a long time. 

“ It’s just because I’m not used to journeyings,” she 
wisely told herself. “ Now, Julia, jump for the ball 
once more, and then it will be breakfast time for both 
of us, for I hear grandfather on the stairs.” 

The admiral was not a cheerful companion that 
morning. All his doubts as to the wisdom of 
Nancy’s undertaking were crowding to the front, and 
while he had made up his mind not to express them 


156 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


the effort to keep them out of sight made him irrita- 
ble and unreasonable about little things. 

“ My stars,” breathed Aunt Sylvia as she heard her 
lamb taken to task for the seventh time for “ running 
about the house, doing nothing,” “ I don’ expect to 
hab any pleasure out o’ dis journey, nor I don’ feel 
like I’ll get home safe again, but de sooner we go de 
less ob sech cantankersness we got to hear ; an’ I jess 
wish ’twas time to start ! ” 

There was an early luncheon, and then, very soon, 
the time came. At the last the admiral’s irritability 
left him, and he was gentle enough to please even 
Aunt Sylvia when he bade Nancy good-bye as she 
stood in her old riding skirt, ready to mount 
Jessie. 

Sylvanus appeared, leading the mare whose coat 
had been rubbed until it shone like satin, and who 
held her pretty head high as she stepped daintily 
along, delighted at the prospect of a jaunt with Nancy. 
Sylvanus was clad in a black suit, a gift from the 
general. It hung off the young darky’s shoulders in 
a peculiar way, and the trousers which had been none 
too long for the general were flapping about Sylvanus’s 
ankles, but any one could see how proud he felt. 

“ She certainly is in the most eminent condition this 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 157 

afternoon, Jessie is, Miss Nancy,” he said as Nancy 
put out her hand to stroke the mare. 

“Don’t talk so much, boy,” said the admiral 
sharply ; “ see if that saddle is all right, and then go 
and help your mother get Miss Nancy’s things into 
the carriage.” 

“ Certainly, admiral, sir, at once ! ” it seemed as if 
Sylvanus would lose his balance with the deep bow 
he made before turning to run to his mother’s assist- 
ance. 

Aunt Sylvia’s voice could be heard from the hall, 
issuing orders to Betty the maid, and to her son. 

“ Don’t you go to forget de admiral’s tea, nor to 
lock up all de doors, nor his hot water in de morn- 
ing,” she said over and over again ; “ I ’spec’s you’ll 
forget, spite ob all I say. An’ you, Sylvanus, you jess 
keep your mouf tight shut, an’ work eb’ry minute. 
Don’ you let me hear ob you hanging roun’ de pos’- 
office while I’m gone. Hyah, take dis bag, an’ dis 
bundle an’ de shawl, an’ de catch-all, an’ dis jacket an’ 
dose furs. Cyant you hold more’n one t’ing at a 
time ? My land, I wish yo’ pore father was hyah ! ” 

Her voice died away as she went out of the hall and 
on to the barn. It was very still out on the veranda 
where the admiral and Nancy stood. The little girl 


158 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


turned and reached up to clasp her arms around the 
admiral’s neck, and the keen eyes were kind and soft 
as the old man smoothed the bright hair that curled 
out from under the little riding cap. 

“ My proper things to wear for traveling are all in 
the bag, grandfather,” said Nancy, keeping her voice 
very steady. “ You don’t mind my having this last 
ride with Jessie, do you ? I thought you wouldn’t ; 
and beside, she likes it so much better than being har- 
nessed into a carriage, and we want her to start in 
good spirits.” 

“No — no — I don’t mind anything,” answered the 
admiral when Nancy repeated her question with some 
anxiety. “I was only thinking — wondering what 
your father would say to me for letting you do this 
thing — and your mother; I believe I was thinking 
most about your mother.” 

“ Why mother would say you were good to let me 
do it, grandfather ! ” Nancy ventured to look straight 
into the stern old face then, and suddenly her own 
expression changed. She unclasped her arms, and 
taking one of the admiral’s coat lapels in her left hand 
she held up her little index finger and shook it at him 
warningly. 

“You are not to worry about me one single bit, 



' • t • 




•mC# 


m 


*awf*A 


■I 


IW*V , 


< Mm i ' 


• , . 


. \ Q -*1 


“TO VICTORY, ADMIRAL!” CRIED NANCY 





' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 159 

Admiral Beaumont,” she charged him. “ I am feel- 
ing quite old, and very, very brave to-day ; and I ex- 
pect to have a fine journey and come back to you day 
after to-morrow, and find you’ve had a beautiful rest- 
ing time without me.” 

The admiral took the two little hands in his own, 
and stooping, kissed Nancy once more, on her fore- 
head. 

“You’ll be looked after, I’ve no doubt,” he said, 
“ and I’ll do the best I can to behave while you’re 
gone. Now it’s time you went — high time.” 

With a spring Nancy was on the mare’s back, and 
with a gay “ good-bye ” and a wave of her hand she 
started. As she turned in the saddle for a last look 
there stood her grandfather, bare-headed, with his 
hand raised, in the attitude of one saluting a superior 
officer. 

“ To victory, admiral ! ” cried Nancy, and from her 
finger tips she blew a kiss to him. 


CHAPTER XVI 


A WONDERFUL FREIGHT CAR 

Once a military hero who had been visiting rela- 
tives in a town not far from Potterville had taken the 
train which passed through the little station ; as his 
comings and goings had been announced in the local 
paper a large number of “ Potterville’s prominent 
citizens ” stood on the station platform and gallantly 
waved hats and handkerchiefs at him as he gazed at 
them from the window of the car. 

Haney was only a little girl, starting off for a short 
journey in a freight car, but the news of her going 
had spread and spread till in all Potterville there was 
scarcely a man, woman or child who did not know of 
it, and wish her well. 

“ Let’s go down and see the little Beaumont girl 
start off,” many Potterville neighbors said to each 
other. “ She’s taking that mare of hers off to the 
city to sell — they need the money I guess ; I thought 
I’d take the children down, too.” 

When Haney, flushed from her brisk ride in the 
autumn air, drew rein at the station, she could hardly 
160 


' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 161 

believe her eyes. There was no passenger train due 
at Potterville at that hour of the day; it must be 
that all these smiling, bowing people had come to 
see her off ! In spite of her friendliness toward all 
of them, Nancy wished for a minute there had not 
been quite so many, as she slipped from Jessie’s back 
and stood looking about her rather shyly. Mr. Lord 
hurried out from the station to greet her, and at the 
same minute the round, freckle-faced boy who had 
talked to Jessie on the day that Nancy went to the 
office of the “ Potterville Clarion ” stepped up to her. 

“ I thought you’d wish to send that telegram you 
spoke of, now,” said Mr. Lord. “ There are plenty of 
boys here to hold ” 

“ I’ll ’tend to the horse,” broke in the freckle-faced 
boy, eagerly, “ for I’ve done it before, haven’t I ? 
She won’t be afraid with me. See, she knows me, 
don’t you, Jessie ? ” and he put out a stubby hand 
toward the mare, who held her head down so that he 
might stroke it. 

“ Thank you,” said Nancy heartily. “ I remember 
you, and so does Jessie. And if you’ll look after her 
I’ll be ever so much obliged.” 

“I’ve talked to Jessie a good many times,” said the 
boy, who had become suddenly a person of great im- 


162 The Admiral's Granddaughter 


portance in the eyes of his friends. “ She didn’t 
know it,” he jerked his thumb toward Nancy who 
had followed Mr. Lord into the waiting-room ; “ but a 
good many mornings down at the post-office and 
other places, I’ve talked to her; she knows me all 
right ; I like horses. Now don’t you boys crowd up 
too close, or she’ll get scared, and I’m responsible.” 

The telegram to General Compton was quickly 
written, and carefully placed by Mr. Lord on his desk. 

“ I’ll send it off the minute } T our train pulls out,” he 
said. “Now I think we’d better step over to the car 
before your carriage gets here. I believe you’ll be 
sort of surprised and maybe pleased with what you’ll 
see.” 

“Just a few minutes more, Jessie,” Nancy said to 
the mare, as she followed Mr. Lord; “you’ll look 
after her, won’t you?” she asked the boy with a 
smile. 

“Sure,” he said with great emphasis. “I’ve had 
one look at the car already, and I can take another 
when you’re going to start.” 

After Nancy followed Mrs. Potter with a large 
paper parcel held carefully in her right hand, and 
after Mrs. Potter trailed a line of women and chil- 
dren, with half a dozen men bringing up the rear. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 163 

“As ’twas rather an unusual occasion,” said Mr. 
Lord, facing about as they reached the car, up to the 
door of which a broad plank had been placed, “ a few 
of us got together last night to see what we could do 
to make it seem a little more homelike. First of all,” 
and he waved his hand toward the end of the line, 
“ Mr. Hobbs made a good suggestion. He offered to 
kind of fit up one part of the car for Jessie; stall her 
in a little, provide hay and enough oats to make her 
comfortable; and we all thought ’twas a first-rate 
idea.” 

He beamed on Haney, who looked first at him, and 
then down the wavering line to Mr. Hobbs. 

“ Oh, thank you ! ” said Haney. “ I don’t know how 
to thank you enough ! ” 

“ Don’t speak of it,” said Mr. Hobbs. “ A young 
lady that I’ve seen grow up, as I’ve seen you, ’twas 
only a pleasure.” 

“ You step in and look,” suggested Mr. Lord, and 
Haney went up the broad plank and entered the car, 
followed by the station-master, while the line of 
friends closed up into a group, pressed around the 
door. 

“ Why, it isn’t like the same place ! ” cried Haney, 
and indeed the bare old car seemed transformed. 


164 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


Across one end, taking nearly half the car, there 
were laid boards, which made of the end a stall ; the 
floor was thickly strewn with hay and on the side of 
the car was securely fastened a large box in which 
was more food than Jessie could possibly eat during 
the journey. 

“He was pretty liberal, wasn’t he?” commented 
Mr. Lord, pointing to this supply. “ But it’s a good 
fault, I tell him, and none too many have it. Now 
you cast your eyes over in that corner.” 

Nancy did as he requested and saw a small shelf, 
securely fastened to the car, and on it stood the little 
electric candle. 

“That’s Mr. Potter’s work,” said Mr. Lord, “and 
it’s complete, now isn’t it ? Candle’s all clamped in, 
so there can’t a thing move it, and you’ll have all the 
light you’ll need. That easy-chair and the cot bed 
are the gift of Mr. Lamson of the ‘Potterville 
Clarion.’ He seemed to know all about you when 
I mentioned your going ; said you’d been to see him 
on a little matter of business not long ago, and he was 
real interested to hear about your trip. He said those 
two things had been knocking about his rooms for he 
didn’t know how long, and he wanted to get rid of 
’em. And when you got to the city you could give 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 165 

’em away to anybody in the train yard that would 
take ’em.” 

Nancy looked out of the car and not far away she 
saw Mr. Lamson standing with his hands in his 
pockets, whistling. He smiled good-naturedly and 
lifted his hat to Nancy as she caught his eye. 

“ Oh, thank you, Mr. Lamson,” she cried, “ and Mrs. 
Potter, please thank Mr. Potter for the shelf. Why, 
I feel as if I were going to travel in a room instead of 
a freight car ! ” 

Mrs. Potter and a number of other women who had 
been close to the car now came up the plank and in at 
the door, until there was scarcely room left to turn 
around. 

“ The men folks did the carpentering,” began Mrs. 
Potter briskly, “but there were some things they 
couldn’t do. Everybody knows how hungry you get 
when you’re traveling, and there isn’t anything much 
heartier or that’ll stay by you better than my rye 
drop-cakes. I made a batch this morning and there’s 
a dozen in this parcel, each one wrapped up separate, 
for they are a mite greasy — that’s their nature, you 
know.” 

“ Oh, thank you, thank you ever so much,” said 
Nancy as she received the paper parcel and put it 


166 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

carefully down in the easy-chair. “ And are all these 
presents for me ? ” she asked, as half a dozen more 
parcels were piled beside Mrs. Potter’s. 

“ Mr. Lord said he couldn’t just tell where you’d be 
able to get out for a breath o’ fresh air, if at all,” said 
another of the women eagerly, “ so I brought you a 
little balsam pillow to smell of, and my little girl 
fetched along a bottle of our spring water ; she said 
maybe you’d forget about being thirsty ; she’s a great 
hand for drinking water on the cars.” 

“ Why, of course I’d forgotten how thirsty I should 
get.” Nancy held out her hand to clasp the little fin- 
gers that had been clutching the big bottle so tightly. 
“ I shall need every drop of it, I’m sure.” 

“ Here comes your Aunt Sylvy,” piped a shrill voice 
from the edge of the group outside the car. “ They’ve 
tied the horse up beyond the station, and she and Syl- 
vanus are coming, all loaded up with things.” 

“ We’d better get right out of here,” said the ener- 
getic Mrs. Potter taking things into her own hands, 
and firmly pushing her neighbors toward the door and 
down the plank. “ They’ll want all the room they can 
have now, and that skitti — that mare’s got to come 
aboard. Time’s going fast, isn’t it, Mr. Lord ? ” 

“ It’s getting pretty close on toward the hour,” ad- 


' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 167 

mitted Mr. Lord, reluctantly, for he had enjoyed the 
unusual excitement. “ I guess perhaps it would be 
well for Miss Nancy to get the mare into her stall.” 

Aunt Sylvia, attended by her son, approached the 
car with as much dignity as was possible under the 
circumstances. She held her head high and apparently 
did not see any of the people who were in her path, 
though her skirts swung against them as she passed. 

“ Hyah I am, honey,” she said as she mounted to the 
car, her back stiller than ever ; “ dat Ezry was slower 
dan slow, but Fs got hyah at de las’. ’Vanus, you jess 
drap all dose contraptions an’ clo’es on dat bed, an’ go 
get Jessie. Is dis de way freight cars looks ? ” 

“Not any other freight car but this, Aunt Sylvia,” 
Nancy told her quickly, as Sylvanus hurried after the 
mare. “It’s just a bare place like a great box, always. 
But all these things have been put in by our friends ; 
think of it, Aunt Sylvia, they’ve been so kind, when I 
hardly know some of them ! ” 

Aunt Sylvia looked about the car, and then she 
stepped to the door. 

“ You suttinly hab done yo’selves proud,” she said, 
addressing the group, the long black veil which she 
wore on state occasions, fluttering with the violent 
nods of her head. “ I ’spec’ Miss Nancy’s done thank 


168 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


you, arid I done thank you now, too. I wish you all 
many happy returns.” 

Mr. Lamson clapped his hands and there was a round 
of applause for Aunt Sylvia’s speech, while Nancy 
stood flushed and smiling beside her. Sylvanus, lead- 
ing Jessie, was closely followed by the freckle-faced 
boy who wished one more look at the car. 

Jessie’s ears showed that she was far from calm 
when she reached the car. At first she planted her 
hoofs firmly and refused to think of stepping on the 
plank, in spite of many urgings. But when Nancy, 
from the doorway, held out her hand with a lump of 
sugar plainly to be seen on the palm, the mare’s fears 
left her for a moment — and in that moment she had 
mounted the short incline and was safe, beside her lit- 
tle mistress. 

“See your beautiful traveling stall, Jessie,” and 
Nancy led her to the part of the car arranged for her. 
“ Isn’t that almost as nice as home ? ” 

Jessie tossed her head, but she allowed Nancy to 
persuade her to try her new quarters, and as soon as 
the saddle had been slipped from her back she pro- 
ceeded to test the quality of the oats Mr. Hobbs had 
provided. 

“ You certainly are situated most grand for travel- 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 169 

ing, Miss Nancy,” said Sylvanus, whose eyes were 
roving over the car while his mouth was set in a broad 
smile. “We didn’t really have the necessity of pro- 
viding anything ourselves, if ” 

“ Uh-h, stop yo’ talking, boy,” and Aunt Sylvia gave 
him a determined shove toward the door. “ You start 
right off for home soon as you see us dragged out on 
de tracks, an’ yo’ gib yo’ whole mind, all you’ve got — 
’twon’t be any too much — to looking after de admiral 
while we’s gone. Don’ I hyah de train coming now ? ” 
“ Here she comes,” cried Mr. Lord, “ and here comes 
Bart Pearson too, looking pretty well winded. I 
thought ’twas strange he hadn’t arrived.” 

Mr. Pearson’s large face was flushed to a dark red 
and he was panting for breath as he came half running 
across the tracks. In his hands were a number of small 
white paper bags. Just before he reached the car he 
stumbled on a rail, and although he recovered his bal- 
ance one of the little bags flew from his grasp and 
there was a shower of gum-drops, yellow, pink and 
green. 

“ There,” said Mr. Pearson as he reached the goal, 
and stretched up his hands to Nancy, “you take these 
quick, before they shut ye in. It beats all the way 
that candy man comes late when I’m in a hurry for 


170 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


him. I’m sorry the gum-drops have gone — though I 
see they won’t be wasted ” — with a backward glance 
at the freckle-faced boy who, with his friends, was 
rapidly gathering the scattered treasures ; “ but here’s 
peppermints, chocolates, nut-bars, marsh-mallows, and 
juice-drops — quite a variety you see ; I thought they’d 
be tasty on your trip, and I recalled your favorites.” 

“Oh, everybody is too good to me.” Nancy shook 
Mr. Pearson’s hand warmly when she had given the 
little bags to Aunt Sylvia’s care. “ Thank you very, 
very much, Mr. Pearson.” 

“ I understand the telegram’s to be sent from here,” 
said the postmaster. “ I could just as well take ” 

“ Arrangements are all made, Bart,” broke in Mr. 
Lord’s voice. “ Now Miss Nancy, any last words be- 
fore I shut you in ? ” 

“Nothing but to thank everybody again,” said 
Nancy ; she stood waving her handkerchief as the 
door slid across and hid her from the little crowd of 
watchers. 

“ Give a good hard tunk on the door when I get it 
shut to let me know everything’s all right, and the 
candle does its work,” requested Mr. Lord, as he 
nodded a cheery good-bye through the narrowing 
space. 


' The Admiral's Granddaughter 171 


“Hyah, you let me gib it wid my ole umbrelF,” 
said Aunt Sylvia, as the door shut tight, and standing 
well away she aimed a good blow at the wood with 
the stout handle of her cotton umbrella which nothing 
could have induced her to leave at home. 

“We heard ye!” called Mr. Lord. “Now let’s 
give three cheers for Miss Nancy — all together — one, 
two, three, and let her go ! ” 


CHAPTER XVII 


A HALT ON THE WAY 

The little electric candle was a wonderful help, 
without doubt, but the light in which Nancy and her 
old nurse stood looking at each other for a moment 
seemed rather dim after the September sunshine. 

“ When we get hitched on an’ started, I’s gwine to 
take dat light an’ jess look around in de corners a 
little,” announced Aunt Sylvia, as the freight train 
came close with much puffing, and many calls from 
strange voices. “ Who is all dese men, honey, dat’s 
gwine to fetch us down to de city ? I’d be mighty 
pleased if ’twas folks dat knew us.” 

“Mr. Lord and Sammy Green, our freight hand, 
know them all,” Nancy reassured her. “ I asked 
about it yesterday, and Mr. Lord said, ‘They’re as 
fine a lot as ever you’d meet in the business,’ so you 
see they’ll look out for us well.” 

“ Mussy sakes alive, is dis de way we’s gwine to be 
looked after ! ” cried Aunt Sylvia, as there came a 
great bump which threw her against the side of the 
car. “ I reckon we better sit right down on de flo’ 
172 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 173 

an’ brace our feet against de wall, honey, if we don’ 
want our bones all broken to pieces. Look at dat 
Jessie, how her ears rises up ! ” 

“ It will be different when we really start,” said 
Nancy ; “ Mr. Lord told me it would be jouncey till 
we were coupled on — I think that’s what they call it.” 

“Dis is de onliest safe place for me,” announced 
Aunt Sylvia, as she seated herself on the floor of the 
car, and Nancy was glad to drop beside her. 

“Might’s well laugh as cry,” said Aunt Sylvia as 
they swayed back and forth with the jolting of the 
car while the mare from her stall made unmistakable 
sounds of displeasure and restlessness. 

“ Just wait a minute, Jessie, dear,” Nancy called to 
her, “then it will be quite smooth and I will come 
over and talk to you.” 

It is doubtful whether to a critical traveler the 
motion of the freight car would have seemed smooth 
at the best, but to Nancy and Aunt Sylvia it was 
comfortable enough when the train was under way ; 
and even Jessie found no more fault, but devoted her- 
self again to the oats and other good things provided 
by Mr. Hobbs. 

“ Where do you suppose we are now, Aunt 
Sylvia?” asked Nancy, an hour later. “Don’t you 


174 'I’he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


think that hollow sound must have meant we were 
going over a bridge ? ” 

Aunt Sylvia looked up from an illustrated paper 
which Mr. Lamson had given, and shook her head. 

“ I ain’ gwine spend any time in my mind conjurin’ 
up what we’s gwine over — or under, honey,” she said 
firmly. “ I’s gwine fix my mind right on what’s in 
dis cyar, and keep myself calm. But you jess let me 
know by yo’ clock when it’s time for supper. I 
cyan’t tell ’bout time, libin’ in de darkness ob night.” 

“We can’t open the door, Aunt Sylvia, even if we 
could move it, you know,” said Nancy. “If we 
hadn’t a special permit, we’d be all sealed up on the 
outside. But Mr. Lord said he’d arranged to have 
them open the car for us just a little bit at some junc- 
tion that we reach about dark — so we can get a 
breath of real air.” 

“ Seems ’most like being in a tomb,” said Aunt 
Sylvia darkly, and then she brightened again at the 
sight of Nancy’s face. “ Dat’s only my ole foolish 
talk,” she said gaily. “ I reckon dere’s a pile o’ folks 
would gib ’most all dey’s got to be in my place, an’ 
hab dis ’sperience.” 

She had made Nancy take the easy chair and sat 
herself on a pile of shawls which she declared were 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 175 

more comfortable than any chair. Nancy watching 
her, saw the paper in her hands slip lower and lower 
and at last slide, unheeded from her fingers, and the 
old head droop till it touched her breast. With a 
gentle, deft touch Nancy drew one shawl up so that it 
made a pillow, and in another minute with a sidewise 
movement, Aunt Sylvia settled herself to sleep. 

“ I’m so glad,” said Nancy to herself. “ Dear 
Aunt Sylvia has been awake so much, and I believe 
Jessie is sleepy too. They’ve both been pretty ex- 
cited ; so many things have happened. ” 

Nancy clasped her hands behind her head, and as 
she did it, the little hair-ring, Marguerite’s gift, 
rubbed against her fingers. She put her hands in her 
lap, and sat twisting the ring back and forth. 

“ I think I shan’t ever wish with rings again ; ” she 
looked sorrowfully at the little circle of hair, as she 
said it, under her breath. “ I don’t know what Mar- 
guerite wished, of course, but mine for her isn’t coming 
true ; perhaps it’s coming better than true for her ; I 
suppose she’ll like it better than what I wished for 
her ; I almost know she will,” and with a final twist 
of the little ring, Nancy clasped her hands behind her 
head again. 

As she sat there in the dim car, thinking how 


176 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


strange it was that she should be there, so like a 
dream, and yet so surely true, she heard a new sound 
from the world outside. At first she could not be- 
lieve her ears ; then she sat up very still and straight 
and listened again. 

“ It is rain, hard rain,” she thought ; “ but the sun 
was shining so in Potterville, I don’t see how it can 
be; though I remember Aunt Sylvia said her bones 
felt like rain ; and we haven’t had the big storm that 
always comes in September. Oh, dear, I hope it won’t 
be so very bad before we get there.” 

Her courage failed her at the thought of arriving 
in the great freight yard of a strange place with her 
difficult cargo. General Compton had written that his 
Swedish coachman, John Arlssen, would be at the 
freight yard early in the morning to await Haney’s 
coming, and that he himself and Marguerite would be 
within quick call. Haney would never know how 
much influence the general had used to insure her 
safe and speedy arrival in the city. Mr. Lord might 
have told her something about it if the general had 
not charged him to be silent. 

“I suppose it’s a great deal bigger place than 
Potterville,” thought Haney, drowsily. The steady 
sound of rain was beginning to soothe her, in spite of 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 177 

her cares, as she sat, leaning back in the old easy 
chair. “ That man, John Arlssen, must be used to 
horses, so he’d know just how to manage Jessie. I 
shall say good-bye to her before he takes her out of 
the car. Then I wish — oh, I do wish Aunt Sylvia and 
I could go right home ! I’m going to shut my eyes 
tight now, and play I’ve never come away.” 

Her eyes were more than half shut already. For a 
few minutes her thoughts held her between waking 
and sleeping; then the little hands dropped to her 
lap, and she was back in her old home, far from all 
her troubles, with Julia Frost cuddled under her 
chin. 

When she awoke it was to find Aunt Sylvia sitting 
up and staring about her with startled eyes. 

“ Fo’ de land’s sake ! ” she cried as she met Haney’s 
gaze, “ I’s glad you’s waked up, honey ! Such 
swashin’s and swishin’s ob rain as is gwine on out- 
side dis cyar, I nebber heard befo’! ’Pears like de 
whole sky is broke up an’ de water’s jess a-pourin’ 
down t’rough de cracks ! We’s stopping now, so you 
can get de sound. Listen now ! You’s had a sweet 
sleep, honey, an’ I’s been a-watching you. I drapped 
off myse’f fo’ jess a minute, one time.” 

Nancy smiled, but did not correct Aunt Sylvia’s 


178 7* he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


statement. Instead she rubbed her eyes and listened 
to the beat of the rain. 

“It’s a great storm, Aunt Sylvia, isn’t it ?” she said. 
Her fears had vanished with her sleep. “ It’s raining 
so hard it will probably be all over before morning,” 
she said hopefully. 

“Um-m,” said Aunt Sylvia. “ We don’t ’pear to be 
getting anywhere jess now, honey. Is you supposing 
dis is de place whar we get de fresh air ? What’s dat 
on de flo’? dat slip o’ paper? ’Twa’n’t dere when I 
went to — ’twa’n’t dere de las’ time I looked ’round de 
room. Somebody’s done shoved dat under de do’. I 
reckoned I heard some talkin’ out dere jess now.” 

She looked with suspicion at the scrap of paper 
which, as she said, had evidently been slipped under 
the door ; but Nancy picked it up and read the words 
written on it with red chalk. 

“We guess you’d better keep dry than have the air, 
as Bill Lord told us. The rain and wind are fierce. 

" Res’p’y, 

“ Silas Pond, 

“ Henry Mathews.” 

She read the note aloud to Aunt Sylvia as soon 
as she had made it out, and they agreed that their 
unseen friends were wise. 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 179 

“ Probably we shall start again in a few minutes,” 
said Nancy ; “ and we have to eat our supper, Aunt 
Sylvia, and then talk awhile, and perhaps you’ll sing 
to me. Then I’m sure we shall sleep all night, and 
before we know it, morning will be here. Jessie dear, 
how are you feeling, now?” and she ran over to the 
mare who put down her head and nozzled the little 
hand with her cushiony lip. 

“ Don’ seem to be any table in dis ’stablishment,” 
said Aunt Sylvia as she began to open baskets and 
bundles, “ but I’s gwine spread a whole mess o’ clean 
papers on dat cot bed and serve de food from dat. 
You jess move yo’ chair a teeny bit, honey, while I 
lay de cloth. No, you ain’ gwine help ; you’s gwine 
play lady, same as you is.” 

She began to spread the food on her brown-paper 
table-cloth, making free comments as she did so. 

“ Doughnuts — look well ’nuff, but de one’s I lef’ 
behin’ fo’ de admiral is superior, dey is so ; rye drop- 
cakes — dey looks tasty; co’n muffins an’ graham 
muffins — my stars! I hope dey’s pigeons in dat 
freight-yard we’s gwine to ! Col’ ham an’ col’ co’n- 
beef — wonder if dey t’ought we’s gwine starve ’less’n 
dey brung us food ! Apple jell, ras’berry jell, currant 
jell, my landj ” 


180 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ What was in our own basket, Aunt Sylvia ? ” 
asked Nancy. 

“ Fresh bread V butter, col’ chick’n, grape jell, 
nut-cakes, ginger cookies an’ toasted cheese-crackers, 
an’ a bottle ob tea,” said Aunt Sylvia, checking off 
the articles on her fingers. “ An’ ’twould been plenty, 
too.” 

“ Yes, indeed,” said Nancy heartily, “ but I suppose 
we must taste all these things, Aunt Sylvia, so we 
can tell the people who brought them how good they 
were. Perhaps we’d better do that to-night, and then 
have our things for breakfast.” 

“ I ’spects dat’s de way we’ll hab to do,” said Aunt 
Sylvia. “But we’ll divide ’em up, honey — you take 
de rye drop-cakes, de graham muffins, de col’ ham an’ 
de apple jell, and I’ll taste all de rest ob ’em, ’less’n 
you choose a few kinds ob cake fo’ yo’ share. Den 
we’ fill de two biggest paper bags an’ hab a feast 
ready fo’ de pigeons, or any hungry two-legged ani- 
mals dat comes in de freight-yard.” 

Nancy sat laughing at Aunt Sylvia’s solemn face 
as she set the table, and then stood off looking at it, 
shaking her head. 

“ You’d better begin right away dis minute, honey,” 
she counseled, “ fo’ when dis cyar starts t’ings will go 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 181 

bouncing, bouncing all ’round. I’s selected my food, 
an’ I’s gvvine sit right down on de flo’ again, an’ eat 
it, whar I know whar I is.” 

Nancy turned her seat so that she faced Aunt Syl- 
via, and the meal went merrily on until Nancy de- 
clared she could not eat another mouthful. 

“ Aunt Sylvia,” she said hesitatingly when the rem- 
nants of the meal had been gathered in the two big 
bags, “ doesn’t it seem to you we are staying here a 
long time? Why,” she looked at her little watch, 
“ it’s more than two hours, Aunt Sylvia, that we’ve 
stayed right in this place. Do you suppose anything 
has happened ? ” 

“ Most anyt’ing might happen, on de railroads in dis 
kind ob storm,” said Aunt Sylvia, “ but it ain’ hap- 
pening to us, honey, so we better keep ca’m. Listen 
to dat pow’ful rain now ! We’s got a dry roof, an’ I 
reckon dat’s a good cause fo’ thankfulness. What’s 
dat noise? Sounds like a great lot o’ men shout- 
ing.” 

“ So it does,” said Nancy breathlessly. “ Oh, Aunt 
Sylvia, what do you suppose it is ? Don’t you wish 
we could see ? ” 

“Whateber ’tis, it’s coming nearer,” announced 
Aunt Sylvia, and as they listened the sound of shout- 


182 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

ing voices came so close that they could distinguish 
some words. 

“ It’s about a bridge, Aunt Sylvia,” whispered 
Nancy. “ They keep saying, ‘ The bridge ! the bridge ! 9 99 


CHAPTER XVIII 


AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 

Mingled with the sound of shouting voices came 
another sound, the long shrill whistle from the engine 
of an approaching train. 

“ Cyant be de bridge is rained away,” said Aunt 
Sylvia, “or else how would dat train come rushing in 
like dat?” 

Nancy laughed in spite of her fears. 

“ Oh, Aunt Sylvia,” she said, “ there are ever and 
ever so many different tracks at this junction ; Jack 
has told me about it ; he says trains come here from 
all over the world, but of course that’s only his fun ! 
Let’s listen again to hear what they say, if we can. 
Why, Aunt Sylvia, did you hear that man ? Oh ! ” 

“ Well, I declare,” a hearty voice was saying, not 
far from the car, “ if this don’t seem like a dealing of 
Providence. Ten years I’ve run this freight, and 
never saw anything queerer. I suppose you recollect 
me, Mr. Jack Beaumont ? ” 

“ Of course I do,” said a voice that brought Nancy’s 
hand to her throat and made Aunt Sylvia start and 
mutter, “ Fo’ de land’s sake, how come dat boy hyah ? ” 
183 


184 ‘The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ Of course I do,” the gay voice repeated ; “ you’re 
Eben Locke, who told me such splendid train stories 
on the way up to Potterville when I was taking up 
some valuable freight. I never forget anybody’s face. 
But what is there so queer about my coming here 
now ? Our train was delayed, and I don’t seem to 
see anything headed toward Potterville on these 
tracks. I don’t relish the idea of spending the night 
here, for I’m in a particular hurry to get home. I 
only have two days to spend before college begins, 
and I have a little sister up there with my grand- 
father.” 

“Ho, you haven’t,” said Mr. Locke shortly, “ that’s 
just the point.” 

“ What do you mean?” demanded Nancy’s brother. 

“Just what I say;” the voice was lowered, but 
Nancy’s ears were strained to catch the words. “ She’s 
right in here in this car, with her old mammy and 
her mare, and when I saw you coming toward me I 
was just trying to make up my mind how to break it 
to her that the bridge has been carried away — part of 
it — and I don’t know how soon we can go on.” 

It was evident that his listener could scarcely wait 
for him to finish. 

“Nancy — little Nancy in that old car ! ” there was 



Wu 


** ■***&«» 


& 


HER HAND STRETCHED TOWARD HIM 


































































































































































































































































The Admiral's Granddaughter 185 

no gaiety in the voice now. “ And Aunt Sylvia, and 
Jessie ! what does it mean ? I must see them this 
minute ! ” 

“ This whole enterprise has been carried on con- 
trary to the ordinary rules,” remarked Mr. Locke in a 
resigned tone, “ and I guess I might as well let you in 
as to keep you standing here, both of us getting soak- 
ing wet. As to what it means, that’s more’n I can 
tell you. I had my instructions to look after them 
from Bill Lord, and he got his from headquarters, I take 
it. It’s this next car. Here, you help me shove on 
the door ; it’s getting pretty well swelled with this rain. 
There she goes — and here’s your family all safe and 
sound and bright as buttons. How d’you do, miss ? ” 

As the door rolled back Jack Beaumont saw a 
tableau which he never forgot. In the centre of the 
car stood Aunt Sylvia, her arms folded, and a look of 
mingled longing and reproach on her worn old face. 
Beyond her, in the shadowy corner, stood Haney, 
one hand on Jessie’s head and the other stretched 
toward him, her little face flushed and anxious and 
her lips trembling with excitement. 

“ Oh, Jack ! ” she cried. “ Jack ! It’s all right ! 
Don’t look at me that way! It’s all right; grand- 
father let me come ! ” 


186 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


“ I’ll just run this door across,” said Mr. Locke, to 
himself, for nobody was listening, “and step along 
about my other business. I reckon I shan’t be missed 
here.” 

“ What does it mean, Nancy ? ” asked Jack as 
quietly as he could. 

With a word of greeting to Aunt Sylvia he had 
gone past her to his little sister, and putting his arm 
about her drew her gently over to the big chair. 

“Tell me all about it, Nancy,” he said again. “Is 
this what grandfather meant in the letter I had last 
night saying the money was ready for my last year, 
after all ? And I had just written him that I did not 
need it. I have a chance to pay my own way by 
coaching. Tell me, Nancy.” 

He knelt on the floor in front of his little sister, 
and framed the prett}', flushed face in his strong 
hands. 

“ Oh, Jack,” Nancy half- whispered the words. “ It 
was the only way — and the general had offered to 
buy Jessie for Marguerite — and we did so want you 
to have your last year. And I knew you would buy 
Jessie back for me when you had earned enough 
money. And of course, though I love Jessie dearly, 
a horse isn’t like a brother ! ” 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 187 

“ No,” said Jack Beaumont with decision, “ a horse 
is about a hundred times better than such a brother 
as I’ve been, Nancy. I shall never forgive myself for 
this — never ! ” 

He rose and began to stride back and forth in the 
narrow limits of the car until Aunt Sylvia spoke to 
him. 

“ Dis yer isn’t a cage, boy,” she said sharply, “ nor 
we isn’t wild animiles. You’s done step on my skirt 
four times now, an’ you’s tromped on one ob de pigeon 
bags, too. Now sit down on dat cot bed and plan 
out what we’s gwine do next.” 

“ I’ve thought what I shall do next, Aunt Sylvia,” 
and Jack smiled down at the reproachful old face. 
“I shall shut this car door tight behind me and go 
over to the station to see if I can get General Comp- 
ton by long distance telephone. He’ll be at home 
probably, and I’ll have a good talk with him.” 

“Oh, but Jack, there’s Marguerite,” cried Nancy. 
“ I’ve promised, you see ! ” 

Jack Beaumont’s chin took on a look which his 
grandfather knew and admired in spite of himself. 

“ Miss Marguerite Compton is a young lady who has 
a great many good things,” he said, stroking his little 
sister’s hair; “she doesn’t need Jessie — and you do. 


188 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


I know the general will agree with me. You see if 
he doesn’t. By the way, this seems quite a parlor, 
this car of yours ; I never saw anything like it be- 
fore.” 

“ Nobody ever did,” said Nancy eagerly. “Every- 
body almost in Potterville did something to make it 
homelike for Aunt Sylvia and me.” 

“’Tisn’t much dey had me in mind,” said Aunt 
Sylvia quickly, “ but dere isn’t anybody in Potterville 
but what loves my lamb.” She looked up at Jack, 
challenging him proudly. “Dey know she’s de bes’ 
kind o’ quality dere is, an’ dey ’predates her,” she 
added. “ Sometimes folks outside ’predates better 
dan folks dat belongs.” 

“ Don’t, Aunt Sylvia ! ” begged the young man, his 
eyes dancing in spite of his tone of humility. “ I know 
you mean me, just the way you always did when I was 
a naughty boy. But I’ve begun to appreciate her, and 
I shan’t ever stop. Say you forgive me, at least part, 
Aunt Sylvia, before I go out into the rain.” 

“Go along,” commanded Aunt Sylvia with pre- 
tended severity. “ You is de actingest boy dat ever 
lived ! ” 

“ Now you jess come here to me, my lamb,” said 
Aunt Sylvia when once more they were alone, “ an’ if 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 189 

you want to cry good an’ hard you is got plenty time 
while dat boy’s gone, an’ it won’t hurt anybody.” 

“ Oh, thank you, Aunt Sylvia,” said Nancy with 
shining eyes, “ but I believe I don’t want to cry — I 
just want to talk to Jessie a minute.” 

She ran to the mare and drew the long head down 
close to her own and laid her hot cheek against it. 

“ Jessie,” she said softly, “ we aren’t to be separated 
after all ! I haven’t got to wait till you’re old to have 
you for my own again ! Just think of that ! ” 

Although Nancy had said she did not want to cry, 
there was a little damp spot on Jessie’s satin forehead, 
and feeling it the mare’s liquid eyes turned anxiously 
to the face pressed so close to her, and she stood very 
still and apparently listened to every word. 

“ Jack will attend to it,” said Nancy happily, lifting 
her head and giving the mare a final loving stroke, 
“ all we have to do, Jessie, you and I, is to be 
grateful.” 

" Uh-h,” muttered Aunt Sylvia. " It’s getting 
pow’ful cold in dis cyar ; dat’s what’s happening, an’ 
my ole bones is beginning to complain.” 

“ Here, Aunt Sylvia, put on all these things,” said 
Nancy, running to the old woman who had begun to 
shiver. “ No wonder you’re cold.” 


190 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


She wrapped shawls and a long cloak around Aunt 
Sylvia, who protested, and then settled down into the 
easy chair when Nancy insisted, and soon announced 
that she was “ as warm as toast ” again. 

They were just beginning to wonder if Jack would 
come soon, when the door of the car slid open, and 
Eben Locke appeared. 

“ Don’t you be scared, miss,” he said to Nancy with 
a broad smile, “ that brother o’ yours wants me to fetch 
you across these tracks to the telephone station ; seems 
there’s a young lady somewhere that wants to speak 
to you. You clap on the warmest shawl you’ve got 
with you, and I’ll carry you right over dry shod.” 

Aunt Sylvia’s cold was instantly forgotten as she 
helped Nancy. When the little girl was well wrapped 
up, Mr. Locke bent his broad shoulders. 

“ You put your two arms round my neck, tight,” he 
said to Nancy. “ Sho ! you aren’t any heft to speak 
of ! I’ve carried barrels of sugar before now. Here 
we go, Jim, you shut the door to, and stand here till 
I come back.” 

Aunt Sylvia went close to the door, and as it slid 
across she said warningty : 

“ Ebery minute or two I’s gwine call out t’rough dis 
wood, and say 4 Is you dar ? ’ An’ if you don’t say 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 191 

‘ Yes ’ mighty quick, dere’s gwine be trouble when my 
lamb comes back. Now — is you dar ? ” 

“ Yes, marm, I am,” roared Jim, and even Aunt 
Sylvia felt that she had ample protection in a person 
with such a voice. 

“ Here, Nancy,” said Jack, when Eben Locke had 
safely landed the little girl beside him, “ you take the 
receiver and listen with all your might.” 

“ Nancy ! ” came a voice that seemed so near the lit- 
tle girl could scarcely believe it was Marguerite, so 
many miles away. “ Oh, Nancy, you dear ! I don’t 
want Jessie. I’d a thousand times rather she’d stay 
with you ! ” 

“You're only saying that, Marguerite,” quavered 
Nancy ; “just because Jack can keep her for me ! ” 

“ Nancy Beaumont, listen to me ! ” the voice at the 
other end of the line had a tone that convinced Nancy 
in spite of her fears. “ Father had found a horse for 
me. I saw him just a few hours before your letter 
came — a darling little black horse, Nancy, and I’d 
truly and honestly a little rather have him than Jessie, 
though of course you wouldn’t like him as well. And 
father has gone to telephone about him now, since we 
heard from your brother.” 

“ Oh, I’m so glad.” Nancy’s feet would scarcely 


192 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

stay on the floor. “Everything is all right again. 
Marguerite — would you like to know what I wished 
for you, even if it isn’t time yet ? ” 

“Yes,” said Marguerite, “and quick, Nancy, for 
mother says we can’t talk much longer.” 

“ I wished you might have a horse of your own — 
not Jessie — and be perfectly satisfied,” said Nancy. 

“You dear!” came the answer. “And I wished 
you to come and make me a visit this winter, and 
you’re coming — your brother has promised me. And 
Nancy — I think you have a pretty fine brother — after 
all.” 

“ ‘ After all ! ’ ” echoed Nancy, but in return she heard 
only Marguerite’s gurgling laugh, and then a “ Good- 
night and good-bye ! I’ll write you to-morrow ! ” 
“Well?” questioned Jack who had watched her 
face as she talked and listened. “ How is it now, little 
sister ? Do you feel better about it ? ” 

For answer Nancy threw herself into his arms and 
clung to him tightly. 

“ Oh, Jack,” she said breathlessly. “ Isn’t this a 
beautiful world, and aren’t there lovely people in it ? ” 


CHAPTER XIX 


BACK TO BEAUMONT LANE 

There was not much sleep in the freight car that 
night, although both Nancy and Aunt Sylvia tried 
to take naps. Jessie was uneasy, and at last, in the 
pouring rain, Jack led her away to a livery stable 
near the station, and there spent the rest of the night 
himself. 

“ These are the queerest goings on that ever I took 
part in,” said Mr. Locke as he viewed Jessie’s de- 
parture. “ But when there’s a man like William Lord 
at one end o’ the line, and a general at the other and 
telephone wires used as freely as if they were free, 
I don’t know what you’re going to do about it. I 
reckon I shall call that my ‘ gilt-edged freight,’ that 
car.” 

The storm, after doing all the damage it could in a 
few hours, was wildly swept on by the gale, and when 
morning came patches of blue sky showed between 
the ragged edges of great torn clouds, and every little 
while a stray sunbeam danced on the surface of the 
pools of water standing between the railroad tracks. 
i93 


194 Admiral's Granddaughter 


“Betwixt the rain and the wind there’s hardly a 
leaf on one of the trees,” said Eben Locke, pointing 
out a row of maples which stood near the station, to 
Jack Beaumont, as he came across the tracks. “I 
reckon your folks are stirring in there,” he added, 
jerking his thumb toward the car. “I heard that 
little sister of yours laughing awhile ago; sounded 
pretty, coming out o’ that old car. What are you 
planning to do this morning ? Are you going on to 
Potterville, and they down to the city, or what ? ” 

“ 1 shall have to use that telephone again as soon as 
I’ve seen them,” said Jack, “and then my plan is to 
take Jessie, the mare, back in that remarkable freight 
car, and send Nancy and Aunt Sylvia home by train. 
I think I can get the necessary permission.” 

“ You seem to have been able to get everything so 
far,” and Eben Locke smiled broadly at the young 
man. “ So here’s good luck to you for the rest of the 
way. I expect the road will be clear up toward Pot- 
terville, and there’s some freight got to start up that 
way in a couple of hours that your car could be 
hitched on to all right ; I’ll help see to it if you can 
get the word.” 

“Thank you,” said Jack, and he gave Mr. Locke’s 
hard palm a good clasp as he turned to the car. 


' The Admiral' s Granddaughter 195 

“ I’ve come to breakfast,” he said gayly as the door 
slid open; “I believe I was invited. Why, what a 
spread, Aunt Sylvia! Can it wait a few minutes 
while I telephone to the freight agent or — no, I be- 
lieve I’d better eat a few mouthfuls first.” 

“ Dat’s de bes’ way,” counseled Aunt Sylvia. Her 
eyes shone brightly in her dusky face. Aunt Sylvia 
was tired but her heart was lighter than for many a 
day before. 

As for Haney, her face was aglow with joy. 

“ Everything looks as if it had been washed clean ! ” 
she cried, taking her first view of the outside world. 
“The storm has gone! Everything bad has gone, 
hasn’t it, Jack? And are we all going home to- 
gether ? ” 

She found it a little hard at first to be content with 
Jack’s plan for the home-going, but in the end she was 
glad, for Aunt Sylvia’s sake. 

“ Jessie and I will get on splendidly, and poor Aunt 
Sylvia needs a comfortable ride, Haney, after all this 
excitement,” said Jack, knowing well Haney’s warm 
heart would help him. “ And we shall get to Potter- 
ville a few hours after you, surely this afternoon, for 
Eben Locke says the freight will go right through, 
and you will have the fun of driving up in one of 


196 T'he Admiral' s Granddaughter 


Mr. Hobbs’s carryalls to surprise grandfather. Think 
of that ! ” 

“ I don’t know what grandfather will say,” and 
Nancy’s face was clouded for a moment. “ He doesn’t 
like surprises,” she added. 

“ He’ll like this one,” Jack told her decidedly, 
and on the whole Nancy thought he was not mis- 
taken. 

She had plenty of time to think while the train was 
carrying her back to Potter ville, for Aunt Sylvia, 
worn out, fell asleep almost as soon as her head 
touched the back of the seat. 

“ So much can happen in such a little time ! ” 
thought Nancy wonderingly as she looked out of the 
car window at the flying landscape. “ I can hardly 
believe I’m myself — and yet I know I’m not anybody 
else,” with a little sigh of contentment. 

When the train arrived at Potterville the conductor 
helped Nancy and Aunt Sylvia off with quite a flour- 
ish and a wave of his hand toward Mr. Lord, who 
stood in the door of the station. 

Mr. Lord shaded his eyes with his hand, then 
darted across the tracks with a ringing call of wel- 
come for the returned travelers. 

“ My land ! ” he cried. “ This beats all. Here’s the 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 197 

admiral been down here twice already this morning to 
get me to communicate with the end o’ the line and 
find out whether your car had arrived. I couldn’t seem 
to make connections, and he’s been hopping mad with 
me — no offense, but that’s what he’s been, and is — 
hopping mad.” 

“ Grandfather, down here ! ” cried Nancy. “ Why, 
he hasn’t been in the carriage for more than two 
years.” 

“ That’s what he said,” Mr. Lord smiled grimly as 
he piloted Nancy and Aunt Sylvia across to the plat- 
form, gallantly carrying their extra wraps. “ He told 
me that — and a number of other things. It’s never 
been my privilege to hear him talk much before — he 
has a great command of language, the admiral. But 
where’s your car, Miss Nancy, and the mare ? I hope 
they weren’t lost in that deluge that came on us so 
sudden and fierce. I never knew the beat of the way 
it rained and blew for a few hours — just as if there’d 
never be another chance to do it ! ” 

There were no loungers about the little station that 
morning and Nancy told her story to Mr. Lord with- 
out any other listeners ; even Aunt Sylvia did not 
hear it, for leaning against the wall of the waiting- 
room she promptly fell asleep once more. 


198 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 

“ Tired out, I reckon,” said Mr. Lord, and Nancy 
nodded, with an affectionate look at her old nurse. 

“ Do you think grandfather really will come here 
again ? ” asked Nancy when her story was finished. 
“ Because if you don’t I’d better go to Mr. Hobbs 
right away, and ask him to drive us home.” 

“ He’ll come,” said Mr. Lord without a shadow of 
doubt. “ In fact — he’s coming now. I can hear that 
Sylvanus of yours.” 

“ Yes, sir, I certainly will, sir ! ” came a loud voice 
as the Beaumont carriage spattered with mud and 
drawn by Mary Anne who was coming at her most 
rapid gait, lurched around the corner and stopped at 
the side door of the station. 

“ See that you do, then,” cried the admiral. “ You’ve 
nearly tipped me over twice with your careless driving. 
Don’t do it again ! ” 

“ No, sir, certainly not, sir,” and then the mouth of 
Sylvanus dropped wide open as he saw Nancy, and his 
mother, roused by his voice and rubbing her eyes, in 
the doorway, while Mr. Lord behind them, bowed low 
to the admiral. 

“ You see I’ve done the best I could for you,” Mr. 
Lord said cheerfully ; but the admiral seemed not to 
hear him. The old man looked at Nancy, hesitating 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 199 

in the doorway, and held out his hands toward her, 
his face working strangely. 

“ Come here ! ” he cried. “ Come here and let me 
feel of you, little Nancy ! Such dreams as I had last 
night! No matter about Jessie or anything. You 
can tell me all that later. All I want now is to have 
my faithful little girl back again.” 

“ Why, grandfather ! ” Nancy nestled into his 
arms and patted his cheeks with her loving little 
hands. “ You did miss me, didn’t you ? ” 

“ Miss you ! ” groaned the admiral. “ I haven’t done 
anything but miss you, and blame myself since you 
went away.” 

“ I’ve got to see about those new tickets,” said Mr. 
Lord, bustling into the waiting-room. " Good-bye all, 
and good luck,” and he shut the door, smiling at his 
own tact. 

“You move along an’ let me get in dere, side ob 
you,” commanded Aunt Sylvia, when the admiral at 
last told her son to start for home. “ I reckon I can 
manage t’ings so you won’t lift ebery puddle in de road 
right on to dis kerridge, boy.” 

“ Grandfather,” Nancy looked across the table at 
the admiral that noon when everything had been ex- 
plained, with a smile of confidence, “ grandfather, don’t 


200 


The Admiral's Granddaughter 


you suppose Mary Anne would like to go down to 
meet her niece this afternoon ? ” 

The admiral was paying for his morning drive with 
much pain, but he smiled valiantly at his granddaugh- 
ter nevertheless. 

“ I should think she’d be delighted,” he said cor- 
dially. “ And mind you, Nancy, you tell Jack for me 
that he is to thank William Lord for all he and the 
other friends did for my little girl, and tell them that 
we shall be glad to see any of them, at any time. 
You’ll remember? I’m afraid I may not have ex- 
pressed my — er — thanks very clearly this morn- 
ing.” 

The sun was low when the Beaumont carriage drove 
briskly along the main street of Potterville that after- 
noon. There were many faces at the windows to see 
it pass, and Jack Beaumont’s hat was lifted again and 
again in response to a smile and nod from a friendly 
watcher. He drove, while Sylvanus sat proudly be- 
side him, arms folded and chin raised. The back seat 
of the carriage was piled high with the wraps and 
bags from the freight car. 

Beside the carriage, accommodating her steps as 
well as she could to those of her elderly aunt, came 
Jessie, with Nancy riding, her cheeks pink and her 


The Admiral' s Granddaughter 201 

eyes dancing. Only once they were halted in their 
progress ; that was when a sharp thimble tap sounded 
on Mrs. Potter’s window and she came hurrying down 
to her gate. 

“ Look here,” she said to Nancy, after a brisk nod 
to J ack, “ I want to tell you something right now. I’m 
one that likes to own to a mistake soon as I find it 
out. When you’d started off yesterday I got to think- 
ing about you and that mare of yours, and I said to 
myself, ‘ wouldn’t I miss her if I was in that child’s 
place?’ and the answer was ‘yes.’ So I want to tell 
you I’m glad you have her back, and she don’t look as 
skittish to me as she did, someway. And as I told 
Mr. Hobbs, it did seem a pity to lose the only eques- 
trienne we had in town.” 

She gave her little compliment with much emphasis 
and pride, dwelling on the word borrowed from Mr. 
Hobbs, to be sure Nancy did not miss it. 

“ Good-bye,” she said, loosing her hold on Nancy’s 
skirt. “ I’ve no doubt your grandfather is in a hurry 
to see you, Mr. Jack,” she added graciously. 

“ Good-bye and thank you,” said Nancy, and Jack 
gave his most sweeping bow to Mrs. Potter as she 
turned away. 

“ And now for home as soon as Mary Anne can get 


202 The Admiral' s Granddaughter 


there,” he said as they left the last village house be- 
hind them. 

“For home and grandfather,” said Nancy softly. 
“ Oh, Jack, I’m so glad we all have each other and 
everything is right again.” 


THE END 














